Northern Voyage I

Munkegaten, hovedgaten i Trondheim

Kronborg slott ved Sundet

Slottsplassen på Krongborg

Munkholmtårnet, havnen i Trondheim

Hovedgaten i Hammerfest

Korvetten La Recherche
nær Beerenøyen. 7. August 1838

Børsen og Christiansborg palass i København

Gammel kirke i Hammerfest, motiv fra vest i byen

Kirkeklokker i Ringebø

With royal patronage the corvette La Recherche, under the direction of French naval surgeon and physicist Paul Gaimard, toured the northern regions of Europe between 1838 and 1840.

French and Scandinavian scientists engaged in the most comprehensive foreign study of Norway in particular that has ever been undertaken. Their journey also took them to Spitzbergen, the Faroe Islands, Germany, Denmark, Russia and Lapland. The expedition concentrated on documenting the natural history and cultural anthropology of the region and over 20 volumes of material, including 5 volumes of illustrations, were subsequently published.

The National Archival Services of Norway have a couple of sites devoted to the illustrations (although they omit the pictures of scientific specimens) and the above images come from the first section - mostly Norway, Denmark and Spitzbergen. The title: Voyages en Scandinavie, en Laponie, au Spitzberg et aux Feröe, pendant les années 1838, 1839 et 1840, sur la corvette la Recherche.

The La Recherche expedition - a short outline.

There are perhaps 150 lithographs in there - most by a person named Mayer. I'll go and have a look at the other series sometime in the future. There was a re-release of the work in the last few years but only a hollow shell of the book's website remains at the waybackmachine.

These are quite reminiscent of the Finland series from a few weeks ago.
[I've cleaned up some age related background artifact in most of the above images]