Although trained as an engineer and draftsman, he began to produce engravings for books and it later became his primary profession.
Little is known of his life, a son, Aaron Martinet, became a print dealer in Paris.
By 1756 he became engraver for the King's cabinet, reporting to the Maison du Roi.
Martinet engraved the plates for numerous works on natural history, especially ornithology.
His major work was for l'Ornithologia, sive Synopsis methodica of Mathurin Jacques Brisson (1760–63) to which he contributed extensively.