Geo&Bio (Dec 2019)
Discovery of Bellingshausen and Lazarev Islands during the Aral Descriptive Expedition (1848–1849) and the possible creative contribution of the painter in exile Taras Shevchenko
Abstract
The article summarizes the memoirs on the discovery of Bellinghausen and Lazarev Islands in August 1849 during the Aral Descriptive Expedition led by Capt. Lt. Aleksey Butakov and the daring inclusion of the painter in exile Private T. Shevchenko to the crew list of the schooner Constantine. Updated usage of the memoirs as well as recent data on the geology, geomorphology, climatology and IT-cartography have allowed us to reconstruct probable views of the ancient marine landscapes. The islands’ rock and soil composition, as well as the coastal elevations and view angles, could serve as important keys for better re-recognition. Google Earth (Elevation) has become an effective supporting tool in relating the drawings to modern topographic formations. The analysis clarified some expeditionary findings and indicates that the elevation of the islands as of 170 years ago correlates with the seascapes reproduced by the painter and show picturesque content, rhythm and depth of view. For the first time, one can determine that sketches by T. Shevchenko corresponding to the topography of the islands exist but have not yet been correctly attributed by museum experts. These drawings were included in a common catalogue list as ‘shores of the Aral Sea’, i.e. pictures ’25’ and ‘159’. The primary pencil picture ‘159’ could have been created on 31August 1849 and the secondary watercolor ‘25’ sometime later. Based on the example ‘25’ it was revealed that sometimes during the wintering encampment of 1849, the artist transformed the topographic landscape drawings he had completed the previous summer into watercolors. Therefore, it is quite possible that some landscapes related to the expeditionary stay on Island Nikolay I and near Bay-Hubek Cape have been mistakenly attributed. These errors may be due to the preferential usage of dates and routes only (but not topography and marine geomorphology). The complete modernization of titles of T. Shevchenko's Aral seascapes by scholars of the 1980s (contrary to the author's own titles of 1850s), as well as with other manuscripts and documents, gives rise to historical and literary distortions and even substantial losses. An example of improved rewriting of a commemorative plaque in Kyiv has been completed. Thus, attention is now being drawn to the necessity of re-uploading some sections of editions of the Shevchenko corpus related to the Aral Descriptive Expedition period.
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