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Stamps

Ancient Lithographs 1839


FO 588



FO 589

Date of issue: 12.02.2007


Price: DKK 13,00

This product is available in following variations:
Ancient Lithographs 1839 -mint
Ancient Lithographs 1839 -cancelled



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On the 13th of June 1838, the French corvette ”La Recherche” left Le Havre in France, bound for Northern Scandinavia. Onboard there were several French scientists and artists, who, together with Scandinavian colleagues, should explore the coastal regions of the High North and the surrounding oceans. The expedition should last for almost three years. The research included geology, botany, marine-biology, astronomy, terrestrial magnetism and northern lights – but also subjects like linguistics, cultural history and anthropology.

In the years 1838 – 40, “La Recherche” travelled far and wide in the High North. The corvette visited Northern Norway, the Faroe Islands, Svalbard, the White Sea and the Kola Peninsula, and people from the expedition made several trips through Scandinavia and Russia.

The scientific leader of the expedition was the French surgeon and naturalist Joseph Paul Gaimard (1796 – 1858). Gaimard had participated in naval expeditions before the “Recherche expedition,” and in 1835 he visited Iceland. The next year he returned to Iceland as the leader of a scientific expedition, sponsored by the French government, and performed scientific studies in Iceland and Greenland. The results of these studies were published in “Voyage en Islande et au Gro?nland,” a work of nine volumes, one of them with geographical illustrations. This was the first “La Recherche Expedition.”

The scientific results from the second “La Recherche Expedition” were published in “Atlas Pittoresque” in the period 1842 – 1855 with the title: ”Voyages de la Commision scientifique de Nord: en Scandinavie, en Laponie, au Spitzberg et aux Feroe, pendant les ann?es 1838, 1839 et 1849, sur la corvette La Recherche.” (”The Scientific Committee’s Expedition to the North: In Scandinavia, Lapland, Spitzberg and the Faroe Islands in the years 1838, 1839 and 1849 onboard the corvette La Recherche”).The work consisted of 26 volumes with text and 5 volumes with illustrations and maps.

The scientific research was extensive, and covered - in accordance with the spirit of the time - a series of natural scientific and cultural historical subjects. But the main reason that we still remember the expedition today is the extensive amount of artwork, which was produced during the trip to the North. In those days, artists always participated in this kind of expeditions. Their task was to document scientific discoveries, to draw maps and describe the surrounding environments.

The second “La Recherche Expedition” was no exception from this tradition. The artists onboard “La Recherche” were: Auguste Mayer (1805 – 1890), who also participated in the first Recherche expedition to Iceland and Greenland; Charles Giraud (1819 – 1892); Barth?lemy Lauvergne (1805 – 1871) and Francois Auguste Biard (1799 – 1882). Biard was not an official member of the expedition and therefore only got one of his pictures in “Atlas Pittoresque”.

During the entire trip and on travels through Scandinavia, the artists drew and painted the strange environments they visited. Most of these pictures were later converted into lithographs and published in “Atlas Pittoresque”. The pictures are valuable contributions to the Nordic cultural history, especially the pictorial descriptions from the Norwegian northwest-coast, Lapland, Svalbard and the Faroe Islands. Also Mayer’s pictures from Iceland and Greenland, from the first “Recherche expedition”, are cultural historical treasures, and three of these pictures were published as stamps from the Icelandic Post some years ago.

The pictures, chosen for the Faroese homage to the “La Recherche” artists were made by Barth?lemy Lauvergne. The Faroese Post has chosen two motifs from his Faroe series. The first stamp depicts the corvette “La Recherche” with the island of N?lsoy in the background. The second stamp depicts the majestic mountain Sk?lingsfjall. One of the lithographs (Sk?lingsfjall) was made by Sabatier, based on an original drawing by Lauvergne, while the other one is made by Lauvergne himself.

More pictures and information regarding the “La Recherche expedition” will be available on: www.faroesstamps.fo in connection with the stamp-issue.

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	Stamp Set (mint) Ancient Lithographs 1839 [551]	116.34 RUR