Nicolas André Courtois (Paris, 1734 - 1806) "The Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Josephine" Pair of miniatures. Signed. 9 x 8 cm each. Both come with tortoiseshell and bone frames with tin applications. Measurements with frame: 20,5 x 18 cm each. Courtois was a painter, draftsman and miniaturist. Among other museums, his work can be found at the Musée Musée Cognacq-Jay Le goût du XVIIIᵉ in Paris, where there is a miniature replica of Raphael’s Madonna della Seggiola which is kept in the Palazzo Pitti, in Florence. In December 2008, an identical pair of miniatures of the emperors appeared on the French market. They were considered to be previously unknown, were signed by the painter Nicolas Jacques (1780 - 1844) and retained the label from an inventory for the son of the Empress, Eugène de Beauharnais. The series we see here is another, identical depiction of the emperors, we do not know if it would have been painted before or after that by Nicolas Jacques, both painters were active during the years of the Napoleonic Empire. There is also the odd engraving of Josephine from the 19th century in existence, which was taken from the same portrait.