Antoine-Alphonse Montfort

Antoine-Alphonse Montfort (3 April 1802 – 28 September 1884) was a French painter, best known for his Orientalist landscapes and genre scenes.

From 1827 to 1828, under the auspices of Vernet, he became the ship's painter on the frigate La Victorieuse and sailed throughout the Mediterranean, visiting Corsica, Malta, the Greek islands, Istanbul, the coast of Syria and Egypt.

While there, he dressed as a native, travelled with caravans, lived in a tent and studied Arabic.

The sketches he made provided a source for paintings that lasted the rest of his life.

All of his sketches and paintings are characterized by precise ethnographic detail and devoid of any romanticized or idealized representations.