Presumably exhibited: Charlottenborg 1860 no. 112 with the title “Det franske Skrue-Linieskib ”la Bretagne“ paa Toulons Rhed” (The French screw liner “la Bretagne” off the coast of Toulon).

As a student of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (1783–1853) and mentor of Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), Anton Melbye represents a connection between the Danish Golden Age and French Impressionism. Melbye went to Paris in 1847 and sought out several of the great French marine painters, including Théodore Gudin (1802–1880), who became a great source of inspiration for him. Melbye stayed in Paris for a 10-year period and achieved great international recognition here as a marine painter and exhibited several times at the Paris Salon. In 1853–54, Melbye travelled with the French fleet to the Bosphorus to, among other things, closely study the modern French navy. At the end of the 1850s, he was at the peak of his career in France. In 1858, he returned to Denmark and again began exhibiting at Charlottenborg, among other works presumably the present painting in 1860. In this, Melbye has depicted the French ship of the line Bretagne, which was completed in 1855 and was one of the largest ships and great pride of the French navy.