Take 5

French colonial prints

The five hand-coloured engravings generously donated to FUMA by Alex Wakulenko in 2021 depict zoophytes and fish. They originally appeared as part of the 1833-1834 publication that documented the French expedition to the southern Australian coastline from 1826 to 1829 under the command of Jules Sévastien-César Dumont d’Urville (1790-1842). The engravings were copied from paintings by the scientific illustrators Antoine-Germaine Bevalet (1779-1850), Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849) and Jean René Constant Quoy (1790-1869).

D’Urville’s voyage in the corvette Astrolabe aimed to find the wreckage of the lost La Perouse expedition, which had disappeared somewhere between the Solomon Islands and the Torres Strait in 1788, but was also instructed to document suitable anchorages, make astronomical observations, and collect scientific samples. Like the ships of the earlier 1801-1803 French expedition to Australia under Nicolas Baudin (1754-1803), the Astrolabe became a floating laboratory. Thousands of plant and animal specimens were collected and preserved, destined for the natural history museums of France. Quoy, a naturalist and surgeon on board the Astrolabe, became a specialist in coral and polyps and his research was quoted in Charles Darwin’s texts.

These engravings illustrate Australian marine species of fish, coral, sponges and anemones that were collected by scientists onboard the Astrolabe during its journey along Australia’s southern coastline. The specimens would have preserved in alcohol, and colours noted given natural colourings fade and discolour once preserved. Once back in Paris a team of artists, scientists and engravers worked on a mammoth publication funded by the French government. It was published in Paris in 1833-34, comprising over twenty volumes, including seven atlases, where the specimens were illustrated in large plates of hand-coloured engravings.

The new acquisitions include four engravings from atlases Zoologie and Molluscs and Zoophytes, and a title page to one of the atlases. The meticulous examination of the specimens is evident in the carefully engraved designs, which include names and keys for each part of the specimen, and coloured inks that have been both printed and applied by hand. These prints are a testament to the French colonial endeavours in Australia and have strong potential as aids for teaching in Humanities and Sciences disciplines.

Alice Clanachan
Collections Curator, Flinders University Museum of Art
Adelaide, Australia, 2021

© Flinders University Museum of Art

J M Hacq (active 1830-1835), engraver

Frontispiece to Atlas in Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe: execute par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829,                                                                              

published 1833-1834 by J Tastu, Paris, engraving on paper

50.8 x 33.2 cm (sheet) 

Gift of Alex Wakulenko

Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 5942

Guiart (active 1833), engraver                                                                                                                        

A Duménil (active 1833), printer

after Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849)

Zoophytes, plate 22 from Atlas Molluscs and Zoophytes, in Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe: execute par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829 

published 1833-34 by J Tastu, Paris, 

hand-coloured engraving printed in coloured inks on paper

40.5 x 26.7 cm (plate), 50.6 x 33.0 cm (sheet)

Gift of Alex Wakulenko 

Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 5944

M Massard (active 1833), engraver

A Duménil (active 1833), printer

after Antoine-Germain Bevalet (1779-1850)

Poissons, plate 11 from Atlas Zoology, in Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe: execute par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829

published 1833-34 by J Tastu, Paris

hand-coloured engraving printed in coloured inks on paper

40.2 x 26.5 cm (plate), 50.5 x 33.1 cm (sheet)

Gift of Alex Wakulenko

Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 5946

Victor (active 1833), engraver

A Duménil (active 1833), printer

after Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849)

Zoophytes, plate 23 from Atlas Molluscs and Zoophytes, in Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe: execute par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829

published 1833-34 by J Tastu, Paris

hand-coloured engraving printed in coloured inks on paper

40.4 x 26.6 cm (plate), 50.7 x 33.0 cm (sheet)

Gift of Alex Wakulenko

Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 5945

M Massard (active 1833), engraver                                                                                    

A Duménil (active 1833), printer                                                                                    

after Jean-Gabriel Prêtre (1768-1849)                                                                         

after Jean René Constant Quoy (1790-1869)  

Zoophytes, plate 6 from Atlas Molluscs and Zoophytes, in Voyage de la corvette l’Astrolabe: execute par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829, 

published 1833-34 by J Tastu, Paris 

hand-coloured engraving printed in coloured inks on paper

40.2 x 26.6 cm (plate), 50.6 x 33.9 cm (sheet) 

Gift of Alex Wakulenko 

Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 5943