Les Corvettes se halant dans les glaces de la banquise 6 février 1838

Exquisite contemporary colored lithograph of the L'Astrolabe and the Zéléé between ice banks on 6 February 1838. Drawn by E.Goupil, lithographed by Sabatier and Mayer. From the "Atlas Pittoresque" that accompanied the massive volumes Voyage au pole sud et dans l'Oceanie, published by Gide from 1841-1854 about Dumont d'Urville's voyage to the South Pole and the South Pacific.

On the voyage of 1837, Dumont d’Urville was asked by King Louis-Philippe to explore the South Pole. The main focus of the voyage was to reach Antarctica "towards the Pole as far as the polar ice will permit" (Rosenman, 1992, p. 110).
He sailed into the South Atlantic, to the Straits of Magellan, then further south to the Antarctic, reaching 63° latitude south until the ice, fog and snow prevented them from going any further. Valuable data was obtained on these unknown regions, but at the cost of an outbreak of scurvy. Of the 183 men on board the two ships, 22 did not make it back alive.

Dumont d'Urville then sailed to Chile to refresh supplies and allow the men the chance to recover. From Chile he sailed across the Pacific, visiting the Marquesas, Tahiti, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, the Solomon's, the Carolines and New Guinea. The expedition then did a circuit around Indonesia and South East Asia before sailing down the west coast of Australia to Hobart, Tasmania.
Once summer returned, Dumont d'Urville decided to make another push for the Antarctic. On 19 January 1840, land was sighted and Dumont d'Urville named it Terre Adélie, after his wife.
Samples of rock were taken to prove that it was a continent, and the French flag was flown. Discovering and claiming Terre Adélie in Antarctica for the French was strategically and politically Dumont d'Urville’s most significant achievement.

Goupil was born in 1814 at Chateaudun, in the Loire Valley. A delicate boy, he resolutely toughened his constitution by travelling and painting in the local countryside. He trained in Paris, tutored by Jules Coignet (1798–1860), whose paintings are described as romantic landscapes, ordered in their composition, an approach that clearly influenced his young pupil. Goupil painted, often in the company of fellow artists, around the Mediterranean coast of France. He also travelled to Algiers on a scarcely seaworthy vessel, and painted in North Africa. At 21, he was already exhibiting in the Paris Salon.
When news of Dumont d’Urville’s proposed new voyage reached Goupil, he eagerly applied for the position of artist. Dumont d’Urville was impressed not only by the evident skill of the young painter, but also by his sea-going experience. Goupil was only 23 years old when appointed by the Marine Ministry as draftsman to the expedition. On the Ze´le´e, his engaging nature made him a popular figure.