
Ruth Woodbridge
Head of Department
£500 - £800
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The present work is based on the pen and ink drawing Circular Quay 1808 by Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, taken from the French encampment on the eastern side of Sydney Cove, with the panorama of Sydney and all its buildings and fortifications in the background. Lesueur, assistant gunner on the Geographe under the command of Nicolas Baudin, drew a number of remarkably accurate topographical views of Sydney during their five month stay at Port Jackson in 1802. The French Admiralty, although sending Baudin's expedition under the 'flag of truce' with the sole aim of 'perfecting the sciences' had a political and strategic interest in the British settlement in New South Wales.
Lesueur's original drawing was later reproduced as an engraving.