Background
Amans was born in Maastricht, a French city at the time. His father, Paul Serge Amans, was born in Narbonne (F) in 1765, was a French officer (Capitaine-Adjudant de place de 1ère classe à Maastricht) of Napoléon.
Amans was born in Maastricht, a French city at the time. His father, Paul Serge Amans, was born in Narbonne (F) in 1765, was a French officer (Capitaine-Adjudant de place de 1ère classe à Maastricht) of Napoléon.
Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans was trained in the French neoclassical tradition of portraiture. He exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1831 to 1837. News of fellow-artist Jean Joseph Vaudechamp’s good fortune in finding patrons probably led Amans to visit Louisiana since the two artists traveled on the same ship from France to New Orleans in about 1837.
Following Vaudechamp’s departure from Louisiana in 1839, Amans assumed the role as the most celebrated portraitist in Louisiana.
Amans and Azoline moved back to France in 1856 where he died in 1888, château de Lévis Saint Nom (78), never having returned to Louisiana. Among Amans" most famous subjects was President Andrew Jackson, who sat for his portrait in 1840 (the 25th Anniversary of the Battle of New Orleans).
The painting is rich in details of both physiognomy and surroundings shows an elderly, though not frail, former president