Augustus Charles Pugin

Who was Augustus Charles Pugin?

Augustus Charles Pugin, born Auguste-Charles Pugin, was an Anglo-French artist, architectural draughtsman, and writer on medieval architecture. He was born in Paris, then the Kingdom of France, but his father was Swiss, and Pugin himself was to spend most of his life in England.

Pugin left France during the Revolutionary period for unclear reasons about 1798 and later entered the Royal Academy Schools in London to improve his skills. Shortly afterwards he obtained a position as an architectural draughtsman with the architect John Nash. After considering and abandoning a career in architecture Pugin married and settled on a career as a commercial artist working primarily for publishers of illustrated books. He was a skilful watercolourist as well as an accomplished draftsman.