Charles Alexandre Lesueur
Charles Alexandre Lesueur | |
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.png) Lesueur in 1818, painted by Charles Willson Peale | |
| Born | 1 January 1778 Le Havre, France |
| Died | 12 December 1846 (aged 67) Le Havre, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Naturalist |
Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1 January 1778 in
Early life
Charles Alexandre Lesueur was born on January 1, 1778, to Jean-Baptiste Denis Lesueur and Charlotte Thieullent. Charlotte died when Charles was sixteen years old, and Charles' maternal grandmother took care of him and his siblings.
Career
In 1801, Lesueur traveled to Australia on the
Between May 1816 and early 1837,[3] he lived and traveled widely in the United States, particularly in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Missouri.[4] He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1817.[5] In 1833, he visited Vincennes, Indiana, where he sketched the first known drawing of Grouseland, the mansion of William Henry Harrison. The mansion is today a National Historic Landmark.
From 1826 to 1837, Lesueur was based in New Harmony, Indiana, where he filled sketchbooks full of the finds discovered during the utopian adventure funded by his friend and former employer, American geologist William Maclure. He arrived in the boat Philanthropist (which he also sketched) with other intellectuals who came to live in the small town of New Harmony, on the Wabash River. He took research trips (including series of six flat-boat trips to New Orleans) and sketched people, small towns, and scenes continuously. He was in New Harmony when Prince Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuweid, Germany, and artist Karl Bodmer came to spend five months there in 1832–1833. Prince Maximilian said of Lesueur, "He had explored the country in many directions, was acquainted with everything remarkable, collected and prepared all interesting objects, and had already sent considerable collections to France."[6] Indeed, Lesueur sent specimens of unique fish, animals, and fossils, as well as artifacts he had dug from the Indian Mounds in New Harmony, back to France, where they remain.
Lesueur returned to France in 1837, only after his friends
In March 1846, Lesueur was appointed curator of the Musée d'Histoire Naturelle du Havre. Nine months later, he died suddenly (12 December 1846) and was buried at Le Havre. In the 1900s, his work was finally published by the museum, totaling over 60 books, including reports of his zoological, geological, historical, and archaeological research, as well as studies of his life.[8] Pictured here is the oil portrait by Charles Willson Peale of Lesueur. The original hangs in the reading room of the Ewell Sale Stewart Library in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia.
Gallery
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The Great Traveller Charles Alexandre Lesueur in the Forest Lithograph after the watercolor: Lesueur, the Naturalist at New Harmony by Karl Bodmer, c. 1832–1834 -
New Harmony, Indiana, in 1831, sketch from Charles Alexandre Lesueur
Eponyms
One species of frog, two species of lizards, and a species of jellyfish were named in honour of Lesueur (the last also honoring François Péron, also of the Baudin expedition):
- Phyllorhiza peronlesuerui Goy 1990 – a jellyfish (Mastigiidae)[11]
Published works
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Descriptions of six new Species of the genus Firola, observed by Messrs. Le Sueur and Péron in the Mediterranean Sea, in the months of March and April, 1809. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1, 3–8.
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Characters of a new genus, and descriptions of three new species upon which it is formed; discovered in the Atlantic ocean, in the months of March and April, 1816. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(3), 37–41. (Read April 15, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Descriptions of three new species of the genus Raja. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(3), 41–43. (Read July 1, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Descriptions of two new species of the genus Gadus. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(5), 83–85. (Read August 26, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Descriptions of a new species of the genus Cyprinus. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(5), 85–86. (Read August 19, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. An account of an American species of Tortoise, not noticed in the systems. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(5), 86–88. (Read September 23, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. A new genus of Fishes, of the order Abdominales, proposed, under the name of Catostomus; and the characters of this genus, with those of its species, indicated. Part 1. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(5), 88–96. (Read September 16, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. A new genus of Fishes, of the order Abdominales, proposed, under the name of Catostomus; and the characters of this genus, with those of its species, indicated. Part 2. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(6), 102–111. (Read September 16, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Descriptions of four new species, and two varieties, of the genus Hydrargira. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(6), 125–134. (Read October 21, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Observations on several species of the genus Actinia; illustrated by figures. Part 1. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(6), 149–154. (Read October 21, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1817. Observations on several species of the genus Actinia; illustrated by figures. Part 2. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1(6), 169–189. (Read October 21, 1817) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1818. Descriptions of several new species of North American fishes. Part 1. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1, 222–235. (Read March 3, 1818) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1818. Observations on a new genus of fossil shells. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1, 310–313. (Read June 30, 1818) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1818. Descriptions of several new species of North American fishes. Part 2. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1, 359–365. (Read March 3, 1818) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1818. Description of several new species of the genus Esox, of North America. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 1, 413–417. (Read March 3, 1818) (BHL link)
- Le Sueur, C. A. 1823. Descriptions of several new species of Ascidia. Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 3, 2–8. (Read March 25, 1822)
See also
- Category:Taxa named by Charles Alexandre Lesueur
- European and American voyages of scientific exploration
References
- ^ a b c d e Fornasiero, Jean (November 2018). "Lesueur, Charles-Alexandre (1778-1846)". The French-Australian Dictionary of Biography. Institute for the Study of French Australian Relations. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
- ^ ISSN 2573-5012. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
- ^ Leland, p. 53.
- ^ Lesueur, peintre voyageur
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- ^ (Elliott & Johansen, p. 6)
- ^ (Elliott & Johansen, p. 7).
- ^ Elliott & Johansen, p. 7
- ISBN 978-1-907807-41-1. ("Lesueur", p. 124).
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Lesueur", p. 156).
- ^ Collins, A. G.; Jarms, G.; Morandini, A. C. (2019). World List of Scyphozoa. Phyllorhiza peronlesueuri Goy, 1990. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=287185 on 2019-04-16
Further reading
- Josephine Mirabella Elliott and Jane Thompson Johansen, Charles-Alexandre Lesueur: Premier Naturalist and Artist, New Harmony, Indiana, 1999.
- Claus Nissen: Die zoologische Buchillustration. Ihre Bibliographie und Geschichte. Vol. I: Bibliographie. Anton Hiersemann, Verlag 1969. Page 252.
- R. W. G. Vail, The American Sketchbooks of Charles Alexandre Lesueur, 1816–1837, American Antiquarian Society, 1938.
- Waldo G. Leland, The Lesueur Collection of American Sketches in the Museum of Natural History at Havre, Seine-Inferieure, Journal of American History 10(1): 53–64, June 1923. Accessed at: https://doi.org/10.2307/1888689.
- Cédric Crémière et Gabrielle Baglione, Lesueur, Peintre voyageur, Un trésor oublié, coll. Très Grande Bibliothèque Thalassa, Éditions de Conti, Paris, 2009 (ISBN 9782351030110)
- Muséum d'Histoire naturelle du Havre, Lesueur, peintre voyageur http://www.museum-lehavre.fr/fr/collections/ca-lesueur/lesueur-peintre-voyageur
- John R. Dolan, Charles-Alexandre Lesueur in Philadelphia: His remarkable contributions to natural history and scientific illustration. Arts and Scoences Vol 4 n3 (2020) http://www.openscience.fr/IMG/pdf/iste_artsci20v4n3_6.pdf
External links
- Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778–1846) naturalist, artist
- Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Le Havre (Lesueur, peintre voyageur) (in French)
- Fishes Described and Drawn by C. A. Lesueur
- Graptemys geographica Lesueur (Map turtle, first described by Lesueur)
- Maclurites magnus Lesueur
- Alex the explorer, the hero of a new graphic novel
- Baudin's voyage – State Library (South Australia)
- Historic New Harmony (Indiana)
- L'expédition Baudin en Australie – Université de La Rochelle
- Charles A Lesueur Papers – Purdue University Libraries, Archives and Special Collections (Indiana, USA). Works of art on paper, including pencil, pastel, charcoal and watercolor sketches by artist and naturalist Charles Alexandre Lesueur, Virginia Dupalais, and Lucy Sistare [Say].
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