Coupang, Timor (Freycinet)

1825. Steel-engraving. 240mm by 325mm (platemark). Coupang : Ile Timor. Divers Travaux Mecaniques'.
Depicts carpenters and blacksmiths in Kupang, West Timor.Engraving from Louis Freycinet's 'Voyage Autour du Monde, Entrepris par Ordre du Roi ... Execue sur les Corvettes de S. M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne Pendant les Annees 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820', published in Paris in 1825.Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (1779-1842) joined the French Navy in 1793 and was a veteran of the Baudin's voyage of discovery (1801-1803). He also completed the narrative of the xpedition which appeared under the title of 'Voyage de Decouvertes aux Terres Australes'.In 1817 de Freycinet successfully lobbied the Government and King Louis XVIII agreed to support a new global campaign. Its mission was to finally determine the shape of the earth and return with detailed reports on geography, people, government, commerce and art of this new world. The 350-ton corvette Uranie had a complement of 120 men and 23 officers including the artist Jacques Arago and a priest. Over the next three years Uranie visited Australia, East Timor, many Pacific islands and South America. The ship was wrecked in the Falklands on the way home in February 1820. After a few months, de Freycinet bought another ship which he renamed the Physicienne, and finally reached Le Havre in November 1820.