Georges Édouard Warneck was born in 1834 in Paris. In addition to being a naval officer, he was also an art dealer. Throughout his life, he curated his own collection, which was sold at the Georges Petit Gallery in Paris a few years after his death. Warneck's son-in-law, Arthur Sambon, compiled a catalogue in 1905 detailing all the pieces that were part of the collection.