Dupre learned engraving and sculpture at the school of Jacques Olanier in Saint Etienne (Loire). He went to Paris in 1768, working first for an armorer and then independently through the aid of the Spanish ambassador. His first medals date from 1776, and in the 1780s he did a number of medals for American independence. A supporter of the Revolution, he succeeded Benjamin Duvivier as Graveur general des monnaies francaises and held the office from 1791 to 1803.
See Forrer i, pp. 647-52; 7, p. 239; F. Alvin in Thieme-Becker 10, pp. 169-70; C. Saunier, Augustin Dupre, orfevre, medailleur et graveur General des monnaies, Paris 1894; C. Zigrosser, "Medallic Sketches of Augustin Dupre," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 101 (1957), pp. 535-50; J. Mazard, "Un Directeur ignore de la monnaie de Paris: Le citoyen Anfrye," Revue Numismatique (1964), pp. 141-48 (including two unpublished drawings for medals by Dupre)
--- from The Molinari Collection, Andrea S. Norris and Ingrid Weber, Published by Bowdoin College, 1976
