Jean Charles Meissonier was an accomplished artist who specialized in genre, coastal scenes and landscapes. He was born in Paris in 1848 and was the son of one of France's most renowned artists, Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, who was born in Lyon in 1815 and died in Paris in 1891.

Jean Charles Meissonier worked in both oil and watercolor and at an early age was showing a great aptitude for drawing. He started to exhibit at the Paris Salon at the early age of 17 and having completed his studies was awarded numerous medals including a Gold Medal in 1866, a medal at the Exposition Universelle in 1899 and he was also awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur in 1899.