Skilled marine painters and chart makers, the Roux family ran a renowned workshop out of Marseilles for four generations. Founded by Joseph Roux (1725-1793), the workshop gained its reputation under his son Ange-Joseph-Antoine Roux (1765-1835). Antoine, as he was known, was a talented maritime watercolourist and chart maker who wanted his pictures to be not only decorative but highly accurate. To this end he spent much of his time studying the varied and exotic ships that came into port at Marseilles and even underwent a spell on the warship Trusty in order to increase his knowledge of every aspect of his subjects. This attention to detail was perfectly suited to the time in which he worked, as the 19thCentury saw an increasing demand for accurate ship portraits, and Antoine Roux's work was the inspiration for many French and Italian maritime artists
Roux came from a family of artists and primarily worked in Marseille. Early in life he was apprenticed to his father, Joseph Roux (1752–93), a hydrographer as well as an artist in his own right, spending his leisure hours painting and drawing.Antoine died of cholera in Marseille in 1835.
All Antoine's four children followed in his artistic footsteps, with his three sons becoming known for their painting as well: Mathieu-Antoine Roux (1799-1872); François Joseph Frédéric Roux (1805–1870), 'Frédéric', was apprenticed to Horace Vernet; and the third, François Geoffroy Roux (1811–1882), 'François', was appointed in 1876 as an official Peintre de la Marine.