The first of the great opticians who helped make the French optical industry competitive with the English between the late eighteenth century and the 1820s. He began his career as a mathematical-instrument maker, but soon became famous for the perfection of his lenses. He also managed to produce better achromatic lenses than the English. After 1800, he was optician to the French Navy and the Bureau des Longitudes, as well as supplier to the Imperial family. He increasingly specialized in the production of large objectives.