De profil, précis et élégant - engravings and drawings by Augustin de Saint-Aubin

 

Louise-Émilie, baronne d’Andlau (Louise-Émilie de Frézals de Cherizy, baronne d'Andlau, 1717-1786), 1779.

I have to question the identification of the subject as Louise-Émilie, baronne d’Andlau. That lady was sixty-two in 1779; the woman in the portrait doesn't look
 nearly sixty-two. Since the full name is not revealed in the engraving, it seems likely that there was another - and much younger - "Louise-Émilie, baronne de."

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Adrienne-Sophie, marquise de Montesson (née Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de La Haye de Riou, 1738–1806), morganatic wife of the duc d'Orléans, 1779.

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Though Saint-Aubin was certainly a very talented and accomplished draughtman, himself, many of his engraved portrait medallions were created using pre-existing likenesses of the subjects.

François Dumont, 1788.

The artist’s wife, Louise-Nicole Godeau Saint-Aubin, circa 1770s.

Guillaume Coustou, 1770.

Unknown, circa 1780s.

Jean Monnet, 1765.

A vintage inscription on the back reads, "A young girl about 14 years old, 'aunt Philippine.'" Circa 1770s.

P. J. Marco, 1784.

The artist’s wife, 1770.

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet), before 1778.

Pierre Jeliote, 1771.

Fortunée-Marie d'Est, princesse de Conti, 1781.

Jean-Charles-Philibert Trudaine, 1774.

The artist’s wife, 1778.

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Augustin de Saint-Aubin, sometimes styled Auguste de Saint-Aubin (3 January 1736, Paris – 9 November 1807, Paris), French designer and engraver. Born the son of the king's embroiderer Gabriel Germain de Saint-Aubin, he came from a family of artists and designers, which included his six siblings: brothers Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin and Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin, as well as Catherine Louise, Louis-Michel, Athanasius, and Agathe; the siblings were known collectively as the "Book of Saint-Aubin". His niece, Marie-François, daughter of Charles, was an artist as well. Trained by his brother Gabriel-Jacques, he later studied with Étienne Fessard and Laurent Cars. His first submission to the Salon was an etching in 1752. He was approved by the Académie Royale in 1771, but did not graduate, as he failed to submit one of the required reception pieces. He took many commissions for commercial purposes like bookplates, frontispieces, invitations, tradesmen's cards, and programs, and he also illustrated books. In 1776 he was appointed as the official engraver at the Bibliothèque Royale. He later worked on etching the collection of antique gems owned by the Duc d'Orléans. A nineteenth-century catalogue raisonné lists over thirteen hundred of his works, but he is most remembered for his portraits. During his lifetime, he was considered the most successful of the siblings but, ironically, he is the one about whom least is now known. He died in the place of his birth at the age of seventy-one.