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C1784
A Dance in Otaheite.
Artist:
Rare engraving from the official British Admiralty sanctioned edition of the accounts of Cook’s third and final voyage. All other later copies made of this image by other publishers were unauthorised, usually smaller and inferior in quality. Cook arrived at … Read Full Description
$A 450
S/N: CK03E-2058-PI-SOC–222813
(C015)
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Details
Full Title:
A Dance in Otaheite.
Date:
C1784
Artist:
Condition:
In good condition
Technique:
Copper engraving.
Image Size:
410mm
x 270mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1784
Description:
Rare engraving from the official British Admiralty sanctioned edition of the accounts of Cook’s third and final voyage. All other later copies made of this image by other publishers were unauthorised, usually smaller and inferior in quality.
Cook arrived at Matavia Bay, Tahiti on 24th August and stayed until 30 September, 1777.
Cook and his men witnessed a number of heiva’s while in Matavia.
‘We landed in the evening and walk’d through a great part of Parre, a pleasant fertile district near Mattavy, meeting our road with a kind of private Heeva or amusement, which consisted of about a hundred of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood who wer[e] sitting in a house and in the midst of them two women with an old man behind, each beating very gently upon a drum, and the women at intervals singing in a softer manner than I have ever heard at their other diversions.’ Cook, Journals III, 2, 985.
Beddie 1743-28, p.339, Joppien 3.103A, ill.p.360
From Cook & King,A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean Undertaken by the Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere….
John Webber (1752 - 1793)
John Webber was an 18th century artist, best known for his work as the official artist on Captain James Cook's third and final voyage to the Pacific in 1776-1780. He was born in London, England in 1751 and was trained as an artist. Webber accompanied Cook on his voyage as the official artist, tasked with creating drawings and paintings of the places and people they encountered. He produced many illustrations and sketches that were used to make engravings for inclusion in the official account of the voyage, published after Cook's death. Webber was required to "give a more perfect idea thereof than can be formed by written description." Webber's illustrations and engravings of the Pacific islands and their inhabitants are considered some of the most accurate and detailed depictions of the region from that time. They provide an important record of the places and people encountered by Cook and his crew, and are valuable for understanding the culture and daily life of the people of the Pacific during the 18th century. He died in London in 1793, after having returned from the voyage, but his work continues to be recognised as an important historical record of the voyage and of the art of his time. Webber's oeuvre from the voyage was the most comprehensive record of sights in the Pacific region ever produced.
