There are relatively few portraits of La Pérouse from the life, due to his unexpected disappearance at sea following his coincidental meeting with the Australian First Fleet at Botany Bay in 1788. After establishing a friendly rapport with the English officers, La Pérouse refitted his ships and sailed for the Solomon Islands, but was never heard from again. Nothing was known of his fate until 1827 when the Pacific trader Peter Dillon found the clues that led to discovery of the wrecks at Vanikoro in the Solomons. His fame only increased as a result of the mysterious disappearance, and there were few images of him to satisfy public interest. This familiar depiction, much used subsequently, is based on a family portrait from the La Pérouse family house in Albi, SW France.

There are relatively few portraits of La Pérouse from the life, due to his unexpected disappearance at sea following his coincidental meeting with the Australian First Fleet at Botany Bay in 1788. After establishing a friendly rapport with the English officers, La Pérouse refitted his ships and sailed for the Solomon Islands, but was never heard from again. Nothing was known of his fate until 1827 when the Pacific trader Peter Dillon found the clues that led to discovery of the wrecks at Vanikoro in the Solomons. His fame only increased as a result of the mysterious disappearance, and there were few images of him to satisfy public interest. This familiar depiction, much used subsequently, is based on a family portrait from the La Pérouse family house in Albi, SW France.