A painter, draughtsman, poster designer, caricaturist and illustrator, Auguste Jean Baptiste Roubille exhibited his watercolours and gouaches at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d’Automne, as well as the Salon des Humoristes, for which he also designed several posters. Roubille was an extremely versatile artist, at times working in an imposing Nabis manner and at others in a more traditional illustrative style. As an illustrator, his métier lay in satire, both of a political and comedic nature.

His first illustrations appeared in Les Temps nouveaux in 1896 and the Courrier français in 1897, and his drawings, illustrations and cartoons later appeared in such publications as Le Rire, Cocorico, Le Canard Sauvage, Le Sourire and Le Cri de Paris, while from 1906 until 1933 he provided cover illustrations for the satirical magazine Fantasio. Although best known for his cartoons and drawings of comical subjects, Roubille’s skill as a draughtsman was evident in all his work.