Half-length portrait in Royal Naval uniform against a background of sky and clouds. Cook is shown facing slightly to the viewer’s right. James Cook was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1776.
Provenance: According to the label, the painting was owned successively by Sir Edward Knatchbull (1781-1849 and by his son Edward Hugessen Knatchpole, 1st Baron Brabourne (1829-1893). There is an implied link to Sir Joseph Banks, since Knatchbull was his executor. The painting was then purchased, presumably at the Brabourne sale at Sotheby's on 11 March and 14 April 1886, by George Ellis, a dealer based in St John’s Wood. Ellis approached the Society with several portraits for purchase during the 1890s.