 His father, Georges-Philippe, was a sculptor and trained Auguste in art.Auguste first exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1843 with a bust of vicomte Jules de Valdahon and last exhibited there in 1864.At the 1847 Salon, he created a sensation with his "Woman Bitten by a Serpent", produced from life-casts from his model Apollonie Sabatier (the pose being particularly suitable for such a method), thus reinforcing the scandal with an erotic dimension.