J S C Dumont D’Urville Commander l’Expedition de l’ASTROLABE

Portrait of Dumont d’Urville, commander of two major scientific expeditions to the Southern Hemisphere

Lithograph. 460mm x 340 mm. Paris, Tastu, 1833. Portrait of Jules-Sebastien-Cesar Dumont d’Urville.

Dumont d’Urville (1790-1842) served on the Pacific voyage of the COQUILLE under the command of Duperrey, and upon return to France in 1825 was promoted to command his own expedition to Australia and the Pacific. The first voyage proved to be of major scientific importance, as the French visited New South Wales, New Guinea, New Zealand and a number of Polynesian islands, amassing a significant collection of natural history specimens in the process. In 1837 Dumont d’Urville returned to the Pacific on a voyage which also saw him undertake over three months of perilous charting in Antarctic waters. Incidentally, while conducting a hydrographic survey aboard the French naval vessel CHEVRETTE in 1820, Dumont d’Urville was instrumental in acquiring the Venus de Milo for France.

The now immortal classical marble had been accidentally unearthed by a peasant on Melos and sold to an agent of the Turkish sultan. Using keen diplomatic pressure, d’Urville had the statue intercepted and it is now a national treasure of France – for his efforts he earned the Legion d’Honneur.