Louis Vignes was a naval officer whose photographic work was produced during his early service in the Mediterranean and North Africa. He made 50 calotypes of sites in Morocco, Sicily and Beirut during the Syrian campaigns of 1860. This led to his assignment to the Duke du Luynes expedition, which travelled from Beirut south through Sidon, Tyre, Nablus and Jerusalem to the Dead Sea which they explored by ship from March through May 1864. It has been estimated that he produced some 400 images. In 1875 64 images were published by Charles Negre in Honoré d'Albert, duc de Luynes, Voyage d'exploration à la mer Morte, à Pétra et sur le rive gauche du Joudain.
