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Voyage de la COQUILLE. Crustaces No. 2
Voyage de la COQUILLE. Crustaces No. 2

Voyage de la COQUILLE. Crustaces No. 2

Artist (1799 - 1874)
Engraver (French, 1776 - 1831)
Date1826 - 1830
Object number00017871
NameEngraving
MediumColoured engraving on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 497 x 323 mm, 0.03 kg
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionCrustaces Plate No. 2., depicting two crabs from the Zoological atlas of Duperrey's expedition on LA COQUILLE. Above the image upper right 'Voy de LA COQUILLE', upper left 'Crustaces 2'. The two crabs are identified beneath the image; '1. Eurypode Latreille (2 a 11 details). 12. Hymensomede Gaudichaud (13 a 18 details)'. Artist's details: E. Guerin pinx.; Courant sculp.; De imp de Remond.HistoryLouis Isidore Duperrey (1786-1865) conducted a voyage around the world in LA COQUILLE (1822-1825) with Dumont d'Urville as one of his officers. (LA COQUILLE was later renamed l'ASTROLABE for Dumont d'Urville's own expedition). Duperrey's voyage on the LA COQUILLE was one of the most notable of the French exploration voyages to the Pacific. The expedition set out with the intention of collecting scientific data and specimens, but also instructed to report on the possibility of establishing a penal colony in Western Australia. Duperrey had as his second-in-command Dumont d'Urville, who was to become the most experienced French commander in the Pacific. While science led the expedition, there was also an unspoken goal of discovering where France might carve out an empire in the South Pacific. His voyage was of some 73,000 miles, with major destinations including Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea. Duperrey (1786-1865) published his account of his expedition as 'Voyage autour du Monde, executé per ordre du Roi, sur la Corvette La Coquille de sa Majesté, pendant les annies 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825... Paris: Firmin Didot for Arthus Bertrand, 1826-1830. The Zoological plates were published by Lesson and Garnot as 'Voyage autour du Monde... Zoologie. Paris: 1826-1830 in three volumes consisting of 155 engraved plates (153 hand-colored, two printed in sepia), by Countant after Lesson, L. Prevost, Pretre, Guerin, Vauthier and others.SignificanceOne of the most significant outcomes of the LA COQUILLE expedition were the extensive scientific, cartographic and ethnographic discoveries. The results of the discovery of hundreds of new species were painstakingly recorded in high quality plates that would be published in Duperrey's nine volume account of the journey.