Gabriel de Saint Aubin

Bio

Gabriel-Jacques de Saint-Aubin was born one of fourteen children to the engraver G.-G. de Saint-Aubin, with whom he acquired his first artistic training. Saint-Aubin fils later became the pupil of J.-B. Sarrazin and studied at the Académie under Jeaurat and then Boucher. Beginning in 1747 Saint-Aubin taught drawing at J.-F. Blondel’s École des Arts; the painter’s first etchings also date from around this time. Losing the prix de Rome in 1752 to Fragonard, Saint-Aubin joined the Académie de Saint-Luc where he exhibited a number of paintings; he also exhibited works at the Salon du Colisée during this period. Having shown no interest in pursuing history painting, as was expected of any artist who hoped to gain State support, he instead worked for the expanding number of new private collectors of less high-minded works. An obsessive draughtsman and close observer of elegant Parisian life, Saint-Aubin’s biographer, Dacier, also described the artist as ‘singulier, bizarre, farouche et malpropre’. Saint-Aubin died in Paris on 9 February 1780, almost destitute, and little known. His brothers Charles-Gabriel, Louis-Michel and Augustin were all also artists.
Saint-Aubin’s genre scenes were frequently sophisticated; the artist alluded to themes such as fleeting time and the vanity. His expressive drawings were later recognized as some of the era’s finest, comparable to even Watteau’s. Saint-Aubin passionately chronicled daily Parisian life; though he earned a living primarily as an engraver, the artist never stopped pursuing what was later acknowledged as a superb painting career.