 He was a pupil of Philip van Dijk in the Hague.He started his career working on pictures of flora for botanists, and contributed to the herbarium of the Leiden hortulanus Jacobus Schuurmans Stekhoven.His pupils were his son Jacobus Luberti Augustini, Egbert van Drielst, Hermanus Numan, Gabriël van Rooyen, and Hendrik Tavenier.