About the artist:

Louis Le Breton (1818 Douarnenez – 1866) was a French painter who specialised in marine paintings. Le Breton studied medicine and took part in Dumont d'Urville's second voyage aboard the Astrolabe. After the official illustrator of the expedition died, Le Breton replaced him. From 1847 he devoted himself exclusively to depicting marine subjects for the French Navy. Louis le Breton served in the navy as a surgeon. He travelled with Dumont d'Urville's expedition to the South Pole and Oceania from 1837 to 1840. From 1845-1847 he was part of an expedition to Madagascar. He produced tinted lithographs and chromolithographs on naval forces, ships and boats, sea landscapes and ports.