Braun initially studied archaeology and philosophy in Göttingen, then continued his education at the University of Munich and in Dresden. In 1833, he accepted Eduard Gerhard's invitation to Berlin, where he made the decision to devote his career to art history.^[1]

In the autumn of 1833, he accompanied Gerhard to Rome, where in a short amount of time, he became a librarian, and subsequently secretary to the Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica (later the German Archaeological Institute).^[2] In Rome he used his contacts in the art market to acquire antiquities and paintings for collectors, and he established a electroplating workshop to create reproductions of ancient and modern works of art.^[2][3]

• Il giudizio di Paride (Paris, 1838) – The Judgement of Paris.
• Die Kunstvorstellungen des geflügelten Dionysios (Munich, 1839) - Artistic notions involving the winged Dionysus.
• Tages und des Hercules und der Minerva heilige Hochzeit (Munich, 1839) - Day of Hercules and Minerva's sacred marriage.
• Antike Marmorwerke (Leipzig, 1843) - Antique marble works.
• Die Schale des Kodros (Berlin, 1843) - The shell of the Kodros.
• Die Ficoronische Cyste (Leipzig, 1850) - The Ficoroni cista.
• Griechische Götterlehre (two volumes, Gotha, 1850–54) - Greek mythology
• Die Vorschule der Kunstmythologie (Gotha, 1854; English trans. by Grant, 1856)
• Die Ruinen und Museen Roms, für Reisende, Künstler, und Alterthumsfreunde (Braunschweig, 1854; English trans. London, 1855).^[4]

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Braun, August Emil" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.