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**Joseph Germain Mathieu Roubaud**, known professionally as “Benjamin,” was a French painter, lithographer, and caricaturist born on 29 May 1811 in Roquevaire and who died on 13 January 1847 in Algiers.
He studied in Paris under the painter Louis Hersent and exhibited genre paintings, landscapes, portraits, and still lifes at the Salon from 1833 until his death, earning recognition in the academic tradition of his teacher.
While he produced conventional paintings, Roubaud achieved his greatest success as a caricaturist and lithographer. From the early 1830s he contributed to the leading satirical journals *La Caricature* and *Le Charivari*, working alongside Honoré Daumier and Grandville under publisher Charles Philipon. His sharp yet meticulously drawn *portraits-charge* captured the era’s leading writers, artists, actors, and politicians. Between 1839 and 1841 he created roughly one hundred such plates for the *Galerie de la presse, de la littérature et des arts* and the *Panthéon charivarique*, many issued by the firm Aubert et Cie.
Notable series published by Aubert include *Le Grand Chemin de la postérité*, which satirically depicted Romantic literary figures such as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, and Théophile Gautier. After 1840 Roubaud also served as correspondent in Algiers for the magazine *L’Illustration* and turned increasingly to North African subjects.
Roubaud’s legacy rests on these incisive yet accurate caricatures, now valued as vivid historical documents of July Monarchy cultural life. Contemporary critic Émile Bayard praised his careful draftsmanship and gift for the *portrait-charge*, noting that while he rarely reached broad comedy, his truthful drawing gave his work lasting documentary power. His prints remain in major museum collections and continue to illustrate the vibrant world of 19th-century French satire.
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