Charles-François Mazois was born in Lorient in 1783. He was trained as an architect in Bordeaux and Paris, where he wrote in a thesis on the monuments of Roman Gaul in 1806. In 1808, he was transferred to Rome where he expanded his antiquarian and archeological interests. From 1809 to 1815, Mazois served as Directeur des Bâtiments de la Couronne (1809–15) to Joachim Murat, King of Naples (reg 1808–15).
Supported by the Queen, Caroline Murat (Napoleon's sister), Mazois was able to study freely at Pompeii, beginning in 1809. His magnum opus, Les ruines de Pompéi, focused on the ancient city's architecture and urban planning. Publication of this monumental work began in 1812. But, at the time of Mazois’s death in 1826, only two volumes of Les ruines de Pompéi had been produced and more than 400 drawings were still unpublished. Franz Christian Gau edited the remaining parts of Mazois' work, bringing it to completion in 1838. In his depictions of Pompeii's ruins, Mazois did not seek to portray "grandeur." His drawings offer a more accurate representation of ancient monuments and their context than had been the norm in previous antiquarian publications.