Nicolas Auguste Laurens

Nicolas-Auguste Laurens began his career at the Beaux-Arts exhibition in Dijon in 1858. He exhibited there until 1902, sending his artworks from Paris where he settled in 1859. He trained with Thomas Couture and Louis Devedeux.

In 1862, he received an important commission to copy eleven historical portrait paintings to be hung in the Riom Museum. Nicolas-Auguste Laurens exhibited his paintings very regularly at the annual Salon des Beaux-Arts in Paris until his death. He specialized in painting nude female figures that were often photographed at the turn of the century after their display at the Salon (Nocturne (1890), La chaine rompue (1902), A la source (1903), Sous le vieux saule (1904), Margarita (1905), Le frisson (1906), Nymphéa (1907)).

During his life time, he also exhibited his paintings in Lille (1866), in Rouen (1906), in Le Havre (1902, 1905). The Fine Arts Museum in Dôle hold a landscape painting (L’abreuvoir en forêt, 1861) and a drawing (Une légende) by Nicolas-Auguste Laurens.