Eugène Isabey, French painter of the coasts and ships of Brittany and Normandy, is best known in the Netherlands as Jongkind's teacher. His realistic beach views, shipwrecks and rugged rocky coasts still fit in with the Romanticism, but also already show the realism that Impressionism would produce. From 1844, Isabey, who lived in Paris, also painted elegant portraits and narrative historical scenes whose precious clothing and utensils matched the opulent taste of the Second Empire.