The Moreau family were well-known French patrons of the arts, developing an impressive art collection over several generations, which is now primarily housed at The Louvre and Musée d'Orsay. The Moreau family art collecting began with Adolphe Moreau, the elder (1800–1859). He possessed ample capital with which to buy the work of artists with whom he was personally acquainted, including Eugène Delacroix and others.

Adolphe Moreau, the younger, (1827–1882), was a high government official and led the railroad company Chemins de fer de l'Est. Given the date of this rare and early panorama, and the fact that Moreau, the younger would have been 14 years old, it was most likely created by Moreau, the elder, who may have created daguerreotypes as a hobby during the early years of “daguerreotypomania”. Very little is known about his activities in photography.