Culture

Hercule Florence, the Monegasque Robinson

Monegasque national Hercule Florence led an extraordinary life. The inventor, who liked to dabble in everything, was a pioneer in photocopying, zoophonia – an art that reproduces animal sounds in the form of musical notation – and, above all, photography.

Born in 1804, adventurer Hercule Florence set off for the New World at the age of 20, sailing on a French frigate. His destination was Brazil. He worked as an apprentice in a shop, and joined Baron von Langsdorff’s expedition, funded by Tsar Alexander I then Tsar Nicholas I. The goal was to explore the interior of Brazil by river, from the Mato Grosso to the Amazon basin.