Antoine Alphonse Montfort, born in Paris in 1802, was a favorite pupil of Horace Vernet and Antoine-Jean Gros. His passion for the Orient developed very early when he was offered the opportunity to sail as a drawing master on a naval frigate (1827-28) in the Mediterranean. He was literally fascinated by that world and a few years later, a second expedition allowed him to travel through Syria, Lebanon and Palestine (1837-38) observing landscapes that influenced many of his works. He brought back hundreds of drawings of high documentary value that provided material for more elaborate compositions. The works of Antoine Alphonse Montfort are kept in the Louvre museum in Paris.