{"id":1931,"date":"2017-03-17T12:00:33","date_gmt":"2017-03-17T01:30:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2017-02-27T11:33:17","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T01:03:17","slug":"interesting-case-lesueur-wombats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2017\/03\/interesting-case-lesueur-wombats\/","title":{"rendered":"The interesting case of Lesueur and the wombats"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Art of Science<\/a> is one of those books that has something for everyone<\/em>. The beautiful images created by Baudin’s artists on the voyage to New Holland in 1800\u20131804 are fascinating for history buffs and art lovers, young and old. Here, art historian Sasha Grishin explains the evolution of depictions of wombats, from sketches during the voyage to final printed plates.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Art<\/a>

Oseological study of wombats, Vombatus ursinus<\/em>
Charles-Alexandre Lesueur<\/em>
Grey wash, ink and pencil on paper \u2013 23.6 x 37.2 cm<\/em>
Mus\u00e9um d\u2019histoire naturelle, Le Havre \u2013 n\u00b0 80 268<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Over the past three decades, the story of\u00a0Baudin, his artists Charles-Alexandre Lesueur\u00a0and Nicolas-Martin Petit, and their expedition\u00a0to Australia in the opening decade of the\u00a0nineteenth century, has moved from being\u00a0an obscure curiosity to a well-known, well-researched\u00a0and much-discussed episode in early\u00a0Australian colonial history \u2013 and a significant\u00a0event in first contact art.\u00a0<\/span>Lesueur and Petit\u00a0could be described as \u2018accidental artists\u201d. They\u00a0were nominally appointed as \u2018assistant gunners\u2019\u00a0for the voyage, but once the three official artists\u00a0absconded to the Ile de France (Mauritius) in\u00a0April 1801, six months into this epic journey,\u00a0Lesueur and Petit became the official pictorial\u00a0chroniclers for the expedition.<\/p>\n

Thanks to exacting archival work, primarily\u00a0by Jacqueline Bonnemains, we know a great\u00a0deal about the lives of the two artists.\u00a0<\/span>Born\u00a0within six months of each other, they were\u00a0aged in their early twenties when they joined\u00a0the expedition. Charles-Alexandre Lesueur\u00a0was apparently self-trained and had a medical\u00a0condition that saved him from military\u00a0service, while Nicolas-Martin Petit appears\u00a0to have received some training in the studio\u00a0of the famous neoclassical artist Jacques-Louis David. Both artists learned on the job,\u00a0acquiring as the voyage progressed new skills\u00a0that were commensurate with the activities\u00a0of natural science artists. This was especially\u00a0true of Lesueur, who developed a very close\u00a0relationship with one of the expedition\u2019s\u00a0zoologists, Fran\u00e7ois P\u00e9ron. After the deaths\u00a0of the other appointed zoologists, Stanislas\u00a0Levillain and Ren\u00e9 Maug\u00e9, Lesueur also fulfilled\u00a0the role of assistant senior zoologist.<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges encountered by the\u00a0expedition, an enormous amount of material\u00a0was collected, with many tens of thousands of\u00a0specimens, including live animals, brought back\u00a0to France. Thousands of drawings were also\u00a0made. In 1807, three years after the G\u00e9ographe<\/em>\u00a0returned to France, P\u00e9ron and Lesueur steered\u00a0to fruition the publication of the first volume\u00a0of the Atlas<\/em> of the Voyage de d\u00e9couvertes aux\u00a0Terres Australes<\/em> with 41 lavish plates. Petit\u00a0did not live to see this publication, as he died\u00a0in 1804, shortly after his return to France, of\u00a0complications following a minor street accident.<\/p>\n

The drawings and paintings from the Baudin\u00a0expedition present a particularly interesting\u00a0case of \u2018pictorial records in transition\u2019. They\u00a0not only mark the changing skill levels of the\u00a0artists and their developing technical facility,\u00a0they also reveal changes in their philosophical\u00a0and aesthetic attitudes over the period of\u00a0several years that separated the moment of first\u00a0observation from the final pictorial realisation\u00a0presented to the public. The purpose of the\u00a0drawings also evolved: early illustrations were\u00a0designed primarily for Baudin\u2019s personal\u00a0journal, whereas later illustrations were\u00a0intended for a formal atlas published with\u00a0Imperial patronage to commemorate the\u00a0expedition. Although the design of many of\u00a0these published illustrations can be attributed\u00a0to a particular artist, Lesueur or Petit, the final\u00a0work was a collaborative product that bore the\u00a0impact of different artistic talents and competing\u00a0ideologies.<\/p>\n

A case in point is plate XXVIII in the 1807\u00a0Atlas<\/em>, reproduced as plate 58 of the second\u00a0edition Atlas<\/em> published in 1824. This is an\u00a0impressive hand-coloured copper engraving\u00a0titled \u2018Nouvelle-Hollande: Ile King\/Le Wombat\u00a0(Phascolomis Wombat N.<\/em>)\u2019. The author of\u00a0the drawing is indicated on the engraving as\u00a0Lesueur, but the engraving itself was executed\u00a0by Choubard, while the whole project was\u00a0supervised by Jacques-G\u00e9rard Milbert \u2013 one of\u00a0the original artists who had set out with Baudin,\u00a0but who had quarrelled with the commander and\u00a0remained on the Ile de France. (In his journal,\u00a0Baudin described Milbert as having \u2018uselessly\u00a0occupied\u2019 his position.) This collective\u00a0attribution thus raises a number of questions. To\u00a0what extent is this engraving actually the work\u00a0of Lesueur? When should it be dated? And what\u00a0should we make of the information it conveys?<\/p>\n

The exact chronology of Lesueur\u2019s dealings\u00a0with wombats on the Baudin voyage is a little\u00a0unclear, but can to some extent be determined.\u00a0Wombats were encountered by the French\u00a0party throughout their voyage and on several\u00a0occasions wombats travelled on board their\u00a0ships.\u00a0<\/span>Several wombat drawings and sketches\u00a0by Lesueur\u2019s hand survive, a number of\u00a0which appear to have been done on a visit\u00a0to Sea Elephant Bay on King Island in late\u00a0December 1802. It was likely at this stage, or\u00a0shortly afterwards, that Lesueur executed two\u00a0osteological studies of wombats examining\u00a0their bone structures whilst in motion as well\u00a0as careful studies of their skulls and claws. It\u00a0was also here, in all probability, that Lesueur\u00a0developed the image of the full-face frontal\u00a0resting position of the wombat that would serve\u00a0as a model for the wombat on the left-hand\u00a0side in the final engraving. This wombat first\u00a0appears in the pencil and ink sketch (80 072)\u00a0that also features studies of wombat paws and\u00a0Lesueur\u2019s annotation \u2018left rear foot seen from underneath\u2019. The second incarnation is a larger\u00a0watercolour, ink and pencil drawing (80 071),\u00a0where the sketch has been enlivened with\u00a0colour. In both instances, the wombat appears\u00a0with its eyes closed, suggesting that the model\u00a0may well have been a dead wombat. In the top\u00a0right-hand side of the watercolour drawing\u00a0there is a pencil outline of a second wombat\u00a0that is shown in profile. These are zoologically\u00a0accurate depictions relating to now extinct subspecies\u00a0of wombats that were once abundant\u00a0on King Island, but that are thought to have\u00a0been exterminated by early settlers. Possibly\u00a0related sub-species of wombats survive to this\u00a0day on Flinders Island.\u00a0<\/span>There is also a curious\u00a0additional sheet (80 070) with pencil and\u00a0ink drawings, where Lesueur is playing with\u00a0different arrangements of his wombat drawings,\u00a0one showing a female wombat with four joeys.\u00a0One could speculate that these were done\u00a0aboard ship on the return journey, when the\u00a0artist was working up his illustrations.<\/p>\n

\"Art<\/a>

Sketches of wombats in various positions<\/em>
Charles-Alexandre Lesueur<\/em>
Pencil and ink on paper \u2013 22.5 x 34.5 cm<\/em>
Mus\u00e9um d\u2019histoire naturelle, Le Havre \u2013 n\u00b0 80 070<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The next transformation in Lesueur\u2019s\u00a0design was quite radical and was executed\u00a0after his return to France in 1804. This is\u00a0a large watercolour and pencil drawing on\u00a0vellum (80 069-1), obviously executed with\u00a0the publication in mind. Although the basic\u00a0shapes of the two wombats of the earlier study\u00a0(80 071) have been retained, the wombats have\u00a0now been radically reinterpreted and enlivened.\u00a0The docile frontal wombat has come to life with\u00a0open eyes, her front paw, as in sketch 80 070,\u00a0resting on a stone to give a sense of elevation,\u00a0and four young wombats shown scrambling\u00a0out of her pouch in front of her. Zoologically,\u00a0this makes little sense as wombats usually\u00a0have only a single joey, or, on rare occasions,\u00a0two, so this joyous family of New Holland is a\u00a0departure from scientific observation in favour\u00a0of the sentimental animal pictures that were\u00a0a developing trend in European nineteenth-century\u00a0art.\u00a0<\/span>The other wombat has now become\u00a0a striding male that somewhat purposelessly\u00a0heads towards his mate. Lesueur, to dress up his\u00a0design, has invented a narrative, but one that\u00a0may not possess strict zoological accuracy in the\u00a0life cycle of this docile, nocturnal creature.<\/p>\n

\"Art<\/a>

Two adult wombats, Vombatus ursinus (Shaw, 1800), with four young coming out of the mother\u2019s pouch<\/em>
Charles-Alexandre Lesueur<\/em>
Mus\u00e9um d\u2019histoire naturelle, Le Havre \u2013 n\u00b0 80 069-1<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

It is at this stage in the process that the\u00a0professional engraver Choubard, under Milbert\u2019s\u00a0supervision, has intervened (80 069-2). Although\u00a0the artist\u2019s design has been closely observed,\u00a0the image has been reversed in the printing\u00a0process, thus changing the momentum in the\u00a0interrelationship of the figures. On a more subtle\u00a0level, the wombats of Choubard and Milbert have\u00a0become slightly feline-like. Lesueur\u2019s wombat\u00a0ears have been reinterpreted and the eyes have\u00a0been opened even further to produce a somewhat\u00a0mutant antipodean creature, somewhere between\u00a0a cat, a small bear and a European badger.\u00a0Despite Lesueur\u2019s conscientious efforts, the\u00a0engraving therefore introduced to the French\u00a0public not only an animal that was largely\u00a0unknown to Europe, but also one that was\u00a0different from anything found in Australia. It was\u00a0not until more than half a century later and John\u00a0Gould\u2019s majestic publication, The Mammals of\u00a0Australia,\u00a0<\/span>that a zoologically accurate image of\u00a0a wombat appeared in Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Art<\/a>

New Holland: King Island. The Wombat. (Phascolomis Wombat N.)<\/em>
Engraving by Choubard from a drawing by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur under the supervision of Jacques Milbert<\/em>
Engraving on paper \u2013 25 x 36 cm<\/em>
Mus\u00e9um d\u2019histoire naturelle, Le Havre \u2013 n\u00b0 80 069-2<\/em>
Plate XXVIII of the 1807 Atlas<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Charles-Alexandre Lesueur\u2019s illustrations\u00a0of the exotic fauna of New Holland are, in the\u00a0words of a recent commentator, \u2018renowned for\u00a0their extraordinary precision and painstaking\u00a0skill in conveying the feel and touch of the live\u00a0animal or bird \u2013 the kangaroo\u2019s fur, the echidna\u2019s\u00a0quills\u2019.\u00a0However, the wombat engraving and\u00a0others like it are also indicative of a certain\u00a0level of invention by a collective group of artists\u00a0involved to some extent in the construction an\u00a0exotic fantasy. When Fran\u00e7ois P\u00e9ron died of\u00a0tuberculosis in 1810, Lesueur hoped to continue\u00a0their project with subsequent volumes, but the\u00a0task of completing the publication of the voyage\u00a0account was entrusted to Louis Freycinet\u00a0instead. Lesueur thus became disillusioned\u00a0and, fearing the loss of his modest pension, took\u00a0up the lucrative invitation to go to America as\u00a0a draughtsman naturalist in August 1815. He\u00a0stayed away for 22 years, only returning to his\u00a0native Le Havre in 1837. In 1845, he became\u00a0curator of the newly established Mus\u00e9um\u00a0d\u2019histoire naturelle. Lesueur died at Le Havre\u00a0on 12 December 1846.<\/p>\n

The Art of Science<\/a>\u00a0is\u00a0available for purchase here<\/a>. The exhibition of these images is touring Australia. More details here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Art of Science is one of those books that has something for everyone. The beautiful images created by Baudin’s artists on the voyage to New Holland in 1800\u20131804 are fascinating for history buffs and art lovers, young and old. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[635,561,562,611,564,636,637,610],"class_list":["post-1931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-extract","tag-charles-alexandre-lesueur","tag-jean-fornasiero","tag-john-west-sooby","tag-lindl-lawton","tag-nicolas-baudin","tag-nicolas-martin-petit","tag-sasha-grishin","tag-the-art-of-science"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-v9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1957,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions\/1957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}