Painter and lithographer Joseph Louis Hippolyte Bellange was born January 17, 1800, in Paris, France. He was known for his depictions of historic battles of the Napoleonic era. He first taught himself how to draw and paint and later trained in lithography, followed by formal art lessons with Baron Antoine-Jean Gros. In 1824 he was awarded a second class medal for an historic painting, and in 1855 he placed in the Paris Universal Exhibition. He was made an officer of the Order of the Legion of Honor in 1861 for his work. In addition to his fine art career, he was the curator for the Musee des Beaux-Arts in Rouen, where he remained from 1837 to 1853, when he returned to Paris. He died in Paris on April 10, 1866.

Bellange's lithographs were published primarily by Godefroy Engelmann, save for fifteen albums of handcolored lithographs published between 1823 to 1835, focusing on French military history, by Gilhaut Freres.