Giclee, Australia, Zoology, King Island Wombat, Choubard, Lesuer, Nicolas Baudin, French Exploration,1800s                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

XXVIII (Plate 13)  'Nouvelle Hollande-Ile King Le Wombat. (Phascolomis Wombat N.)'

Archival Limited Edition Giclee (/300), after an original copper engraving, hand colored, by Choubard in Paris after the painting by French artist Charles-Alexandre Lesueur, the official natural history artist on the Nicolas Baudin Voyage of 1800-1804,  originally published 1808-1811.

Size of image 29cm x 18cm (111/2 x 71/6 Inch)

Issued with a Limited Edition Certificate

Description: Here we see two adult wombats, on the left in full body profile facing walking to the left, while the a female with her left paw on a small rock, faces towards the viewer. This is where artist license enters, what is otherwise, an accurate depiction of this curious mammal of New Holland (as it was known to Europeans at that time). The female has one pup sits comfortably to the left of a forward opening pouch, while another to the right climbs down on the grass, and yet another two pups have already left the pouch, making their way around the left of the female. Indeed, Wombats have a pouch as they are marsupials, but the wombat is a burrowing animal. For this reason the anatomical features of a female wombat has a rear opening pouch, generally only able to have single pup in alternate years. The young stay in the pouch for approximately 10 months, the pup is weaned for up to three months after that. It must have been a necessity for exploration artist to quickly sketch the habits of the animals insitu before the necessity of killing the animals to preserve the skins. The Nicolas Baudin Voyage was an Exploration of Discovery that returned to France with over 250,000 specimens new to science. It was necessary to take back proof of what the naturalists found, while the artists often had brief periods on land, requiring them to take their sketches etc. to compose a scene at a much later date.