An intrepid and versatile Frenchman, Linant came to Egypt in 1818. In Cairo he adopted the life of an Ottoman Turk, but was known and consulted by European residents and visitors as well as by the Pasha of Egypt, Muhammad Ali. At various times his talents were employed as a geographer, explorer, engineer, cartographer and draughtsman.
His first adventure was an expedition to Upper Egypt that Henry Salt, British Consul-General in Egypt , took to Abu Simbel in 1818-19. Although there were other artists in the party it is likely that this watercolour is by Linant and that it depicts Salt's attempts to clear away the ever encroaching sand from the facade of the Great Temple. It shows the construction of a palisade of date-palm trunks to keep back the sand, held in place by wet mud brought up from the Nile in sacks by the local villagers.
Linant took part in several subsequent expeditions up the Nile, and was one of the first Europeans to reach the Pharaonic sites of Meroe and Musawarat in the Sudan. Later, he played a prominent part in irrigation projects in Lower Egypt and in plans for the Suez Canal.