Eglise de Bidondo a Manille [Binondo Church in Manila]

Description

hand-coloured lithograph. EXTREMELY RARE view from ‘Voyage autour du monde execute pendant les annees 1836/1837 sur laCorvette La Bonite’ [Voyage Around the World During…]; pl. 52.

Auguste Nicholas Vaillant was a French naval officer that was tasked with this voyage in 1836. It was mainly a political expedition to build trade relations through the Pacific to South America, Hawaii, China, the Philippines, and Calcutta. He was also tasked with making hydrographic and geographic observations when possible, as well as gathering natural history specimens. On this expedition Vaillant employed naturalists Joseph Eydoux and François Souleyet, and watercolour artists Barthélémy Lauvergne and Théodore-Auguste Fisquet. “The principal aims of the voyage were political; to show the French flag in various areas in the Pacific, including the Hawaiian Islands, China, and Cochin China; to extend protection to a number of French subjects; and to draw up comprehensive reports on the countries visited, including Brazil, Chile, the Marianas, and the Philippines” (Hill).