François-Edmond Paris ( 1806 - 1893)

Son of a French government administrator, entered the Angouleme Naval Academy at the age of 14 in 1820. Between 1822 and 1824 he studied painting with French Navy artists Pierre-Julien Gilbert (1783-1860) and Pierre Ozanne (1737-1813), both known for their accurate and lively drawings of ships and naval battles. Paris’s long naval career began in 1826 as a young officer with France’s last and greatest scientific voyage of discovery, the Astrolabe expedition under captain Dumont d’Urville. He then was to go on another Pacific voyage under Laplace in the Favourite.

During his Pacific voyages, Paris had documented every type of sailing vessel he encountered. He drew plans and scenes of indigenous watercraft in such places as Senegal, the Seychelles, India, Malaysia, the Strait of Malacca, Vietnam, China, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Chile and Brazil. He drew canoes from Greenland, Arab dhows, Chinese junks, Malay proas and Pacific outriggers.

After retiring from the Navy in 1871 he took up the position of curator of the Musee National de la Marine, a position he held until his death in 1893.