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Portrait of Captain James Cook RN

John Webber R.A.1782

National Portrait Gallery

National Portrait Gallery
Canberra, Australia

This is one of three surviving portraits of James Cook (1728–79) by John Webber RA (c. 1752–93). London-born Webber was apprenticed in 1767 to the Swiss landscape artist Johann Aberli, with whom he spent three years before continuing his studies in Paris. He returned to London at 24, and was admitted to study at the Royal Academy, where he first exhibited in 1776. Daniel Solander, the Swedish naturalist who sailed on the Endeavour with Cook and Banks, admired Webber's works at this first exhibition. Knowing that no official artist had been appointed for Cook's imminent voyage, he recommended Webber. It was Webber's job to make drawings and paintings of people and objects encountered on the voyage of the Resolution; to 'observe the genius, temper, disposition of the natives… showing them every kind of civility and regard'.

On this voyage first European contact was established with Hawaiian and British Columbian Indigenous people, and the Resolution's crew were among the first Europeans to meet the original inhabitants of Alaska and Kamchatka. The illustrations Webber made were included in the three-volume official record of the voyage, and boosted its commercial success. In London, Webber was often visited by people keen to hear tales of the tragic journey and to see his drawings and curiosities. He exhibited works relating to the expedition at the Royal Academy, and made a modest income from reworking drawings for sale.

In his posthumous portrait of Cook, Webber depicted him in the glove he customarily wore to conceal the scars from an injury he sustained in North America in 1764, when a horn of powder he was holding exploded.

Details

  • Title: Portrait of Captain James Cook RN
  • Creator: John Webber R.A.
  • Date: 1782
  • Provenance: National Portrait Gallery, Canberra. Purchased 2000 by the Commonwealth Government with the generous assistance of Robert Oatley AO and John Schaeffer AO.
  • Type: Paintings
  • Rights: National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
  • Physical Dimensions: w116.2 x h140 cm (Framed)
  • External Link: Further information

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