Jamestown (Sint-Helena) – Victor Adam after Pierre de Sainson, 1833

JAMESTOWN ON THE ISLAND OF SAINT HELENA, EIGHT YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF NAPOLEON

“Vue de Jame’s-town”, lithograph made by Victor Adam after a design by Pierre de Sainson, made for “Voyage de la Corvette l’Astrolabe” by Jules Dumont d’Urville, published in 1833 by Louise Auguste de Tastu. With original hand colouring. Size (image): 19 × 37 cm.

The French explorer Jules Dumont d’Urville (1790–1842) undertook three voyages around the world, during which he explored the southern and western Pacific, Australia, and Antarctica. In 1829 he called at the island of Saint Helena, where he recorded the following in his account:

“On 15 January, at a quarter past nine, we sighted straight ahead of us, to the west, the two headlands of Saint Helena; a very dense mist concealed from us all the rest of the island. Although I could have sailed past Saint Helena without touching there, the weather was so fine and the opportunity so favourable that I did not wish to deprive several members of the crew of the pleasure they anticipated in visiting this island, now made famous by the illustrious ashes [of Napoleon] it contains. Moreover, I was glad that Messrs Sainson (the expedition’s draughtsman) and Lauvergne (who provided the supplementary illustrations) could enrich their already well-stocked portfolios with a few views of these interesting places.

I therefore set a course for the northern point of the island. At half past two in the afternoon, when we were one mile to windward of the Sugar Loaf rock, Mr Gressien went to answer the customary questions put by the battery at that headland. The surgeon and the pilot came aboard at twenty minutes past three, and the latter had us drop anchor off Jamestown at a quarter to four, in twenty fathoms, over a bottom of black, muddy sand.”

Saint Helena gained international prominence when the British government selected the island as the place of exile for Napoleon Bonaparte following his defeat at Waterloo. After arriving on the island in October 1815, Napoleon initially stayed at the Briars Pavilion on the Balcombe estate, before moving in December of that year to Longwood House, which became his permanent residence. Napoleon spent his final years at Longwood, where he died on 5 May 1821.

Price: Euro 250,-