Frans Lebret was born in Dordrecht in 1820 and quickly made a name for himself with paintings, drawings and etchings of rams and ewes. In his own words, he went into nature at an early age to study the cattle in the hamlet of the Eerste Tol, just outside Dordrecht. This exercise resulted in refined and highly detailed landscapes with sheep, animal studies and portraits. His style is rooted in the Dordrecht Pictura tradition, in which the Van Strij brothers played a leading role around 1800.