Portrait of Sydney Parkinson

Half-length portrait of Sydney Parkinson, sitting at a desk with writing equipment, turned to the left [as viewed]. In an oval frame with leafy detailing, below which a banner is inscribed: 'SYDNEY PARKINSON'.

Frontispiece to A journal of a voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's ship, The Endeavour, by Sydney Parkinson (London, 1773), which was published posthumously.

Sydney Parkinson (c.1745-1771) Scottish natural history artist and Joseph Banks's (1743–1820) illustrator on board HMS Endeavour's voyage to the Pacific in 1768, under Lieutenant James Cook (1728-1779).

Endeavour's mission was to explore the 'unknown southern land', Terra Australis Incognita, and observe the Transit of Venus, which they did from Tahiti on 3rd June 1769.