Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros

Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros (1793–1870) was a French ambassador and one of the first daguerrotypists. Baron and French chargé d'affaires in Bogotá (1838–1842), Athens (1850) and Ambassador to London (1852–1863) - during which period he also travelled to China and Japan in 1857 and 1858 — he produced many famous daguerrotypes — chief among them those of the Acropolis.

Gros led French troops in China during the Anglo-French expedition to China (1856-1860).

In 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France and Japan was signed in Edo on October 9, 1858, by Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros, opening diplomatic relations between the two countries. [Polak 2001, p.29]

While he is best-known for his daguerrotypes, his paintings of Latin American landscapes are — while few — quite striking in their realism.

He photographed The Great Exhibition in London in 1851.

Notes

References

*Polak, Christian (2001) Soie et Lumieres. L'Âge d'or des échanges franco-japonais (des origines aux années 1950), 日仏交流の黄金期（江戸時代～１９５０年代）, (French and Japanese), Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie Française du Japon, Hachette Fujingaho.

ee also

* France-Japan relations (19th century)