François Aubertin

1773 Metz – 1821 Ghent

François Aubertin joined the volunteer battalion of General Marceau at an early age and was subsequently taken into German captivity at Mainz in 1795. Up until the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801, Aubertin worked as a printer and engraver in Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin, where he experimented successfully with the aquatint printing technique, which was still relatively unknown in Germany at the time. After his return to France he earned his living as a reproductive engraver in Paris. Later stages of his career took him to Metz, Brussels and Ghent, where he died in 1821, either as a result of alcohol abuse or suicide.