Charles-Alexandre Lesueur

19 October 1800, Le Havre, France. Charles-Alexandre Lesueur set sail on a
voyage of discovery to the Southern Lands led by Nicolas Baudin. During this
four-year journey to the other side of the world, he demonstrated his talents
as a natural history artist with a gift for scientific observation.
Driven by an insatiable curiosity, during a golden age for natural history and
learned societies, he travelled constantly throughout his life, between
Oceania and Europe, and to the United States.

His sketchbooks and vellums provide a record of the animals, landscapes and
indigenous people he encountered.
Lesueur sketched, described and sought to understand a world that was still
little known, a world that remained to be discovered. The fineness of his
drawing, the realism of the colours he used, the accuracy of his descriptions
make him an exceptional natural history artist. His work is a true artistic
treasure that is still relevant to science today.

In the spirit of the great explorers of the Enlightenment, Lesueur devoted his
entire life to combining passion and observation, adventure and art.