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Lot Essay
Louis Le Breton initially joined Jules Dumont d’Urville’s 1837-1840 expedition to the Antarctic on the aptly named Astrolabe and the Zélée as a surgical assistant, his family profession. Before the expedition left Hobart, Australia, Le Breton befriended the expedition artist Ernest Goupil and when Goupil died on 1 January 1840, Le Breton assumed his duties of visually documenting the trip.
The expedition was the first French crossing of the Antarctic circle and the last major French sailing exploration. The two ships underwent the treacherous journey through icy waters and placed the tricolore on the Antarctic ice near Pointe-Géologie to claim the land in the name of the King. When the expedition returned to France, Le Breton was knighted as a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and transferred to the Department of Maps and Charts. Le Breton’s drawings of the Antarctic expedition were published as lithographs in Atlas Pittoresque, volume II. The accounts of Dumont d’Urville and other members of the expedition, which also documented the north coast of New Zealand and other areas, were published and illustrated in a series of volumes titled Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie, sur les corvettes "l'Astrolabe" et "la Zélée" 1837-1840.
Le Breton went on to visit and document locations around the world for the rest of his life. Notably, his illustrations also appeared in Jacques Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal, a volume dedicated to documenting the superstitious and demonic lexicon. Though the artist was far more prolific in other media, here he rendered the Antarctic expedition in oil, illustrating the ships navigating the treacherous waters near an iceberg, as documented on 18 January 1840 and seen on plate 166 in Atlas Pittoresque, volume II.
The expedition was the first French crossing of the Antarctic circle and the last major French sailing exploration. The two ships underwent the treacherous journey through icy waters and placed the tricolore on the Antarctic ice near Pointe-Géologie to claim the land in the name of the King. When the expedition returned to France, Le Breton was knighted as a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and transferred to the Department of Maps and Charts. Le Breton’s drawings of the Antarctic expedition were published as lithographs in Atlas Pittoresque, volume II. The accounts of Dumont d’Urville and other members of the expedition, which also documented the north coast of New Zealand and other areas, were published and illustrated in a series of volumes titled Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie, sur les corvettes "l'Astrolabe" et "la Zélée" 1837-1840.
Le Breton went on to visit and document locations around the world for the rest of his life. Notably, his illustrations also appeared in Jacques Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal, a volume dedicated to documenting the superstitious and demonic lexicon. Though the artist was far more prolific in other media, here he rendered the Antarctic expedition in oil, illustrating the ships navigating the treacherous waters near an iceberg, as documented on 18 January 1840 and seen on plate 166 in Atlas Pittoresque, volume II.