A Frenchman, August Borget is best known for his drawings and prints of exotic places, in particular China. He was born in 1809 in Issoudun, France south of Paris. Borget began a banking career, but soon went to Paris to become an artist, and periodically exhibited at the Salon from 1836 to 1859.

Beginning in 1836, he traveled through North and South America before stopping briefly in Honolulu in May, 1838, on board the ship "Psyche", on a world tour that took him to China. Age twenty-nine at the time he visited 'The Sandwich Islands', Borget evidenced professional arts training in his confident sketches; such as one he did in 1838 of the Honolulu waterfront with beached outrigger canoes and gabled buildings.

Auguste Borget r...