Place des Factoreries Européenes a Canton, Chine

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Barthélémy Lauvergne’s image shows the European Factories in Canton. These are not factories in the modern sense, but accommodation and trading posts for foreigners.

French admiral Auguste-Nicolas Vaillant led a voyage in a corvette (small warship) named ‘La Bonite’ from 1836 to 1837, cruising the Pacific and Indian Oceans, chiefly to protect French merchant and whaling-vessels. However, the voyage was also a scientific expedition and Vaillant carried on board two naturalists and watercolourists Théodore-Auguste Fisquet and Barthélémy Lauvergne. ‘La Bonite’ visited Brazil, Uruguay, Chile and Peru, before crossing the Pacific to reach the China coast. Fisquet and Lauvergne, provided botanical illustrations for the scientists and also produced topographical views of the locations they visited. Accounts of the voyage were issued in several volumes under the title ‘Voyage autour du monde… sur la corvette La Bonite’, which included over 100 plates. On 21 December 1836, Vaillant set off for Macao (now Macau), in China, then a Portuguese colony. He then travelled to Canton with the French Consul in Canton, Benoist Gernaert, and several of his own party, including Lauvergne and Fisquet.

Draughtsman and painter for the French Navy Barthelemy Lauvergne was born in Toulon, southern France, on 7 April 1805. He trained under painter and illustrator Pierre Letuaire. Lauvergne began his career as secretary to Captain Dumont d'Urville aboard the ‘Astrolabe’, from 1826 to 1829. He was also secretary to Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace and draughtsman aboard ‘La Favorite’ from 1830 to 1832 and was painter on ‘La Bonite’ during its circumnavigation under French admiral Auguste Nicolas Vaillant (1838-49). Lauvergne’s paintings were shown at the Salon in Paris. He died in Carcès, Var, southeastern France, on 16 November 1871.

Places

Far East, China, Guangzhou

Subjects

herdsman, topography, genre, townscape/cityscape, cow, Chinese, man, woman, 19th century costume, vendor, basket, flag

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, coloured lithograph

Artist

Barthelemy Lauvergne (1805 - 1875)
Adam Cuvillier

Title

Place des Factoreries Européenes a Canton, Chine

Date

published 1841-1852

Medium

Coloured lithograph

Acquisition

Purchased from the Parker Gallery, August 1964

GAC number

6704