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C1784
A View of Karakakooa, in Owyhee.
Artist:
Rare engraving of showing Captain Cook in Kealakekua Bay where he stayed from 17 January 1779 until March 1779. This remarkable engraving includes many fascinating details, including the first view of a surfboard (lower left), as well as a view … Read Full Description
$A 2,750
S/N: CK03E-30XX54-PI-HAW–216056
(C015)
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Details
Full Title:
A View of Karakakooa, in Owyhee.
Date:
C1784
Artist:
Condition:
Small repaired tear at right sheet edge, not affecting image, otherwise in good condition.
Technique:
Copper engraving.
Image Size:
530mm
x 265mm
Paper Size:
535mm
x 400mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1784
Description:
Rare engraving of showing Captain Cook in Kealakekua Bay where he stayed from 17 January 1779 until March 1779.
This remarkable engraving includes many fascinating details, including the first view of a surfboard (lower left), as well as a view of the palm-lined village on shore. Cook’s ships remained for five weeks while repairs were made to the masts and rigging as well as the replenishment of the ships’ stores.
From the official British Admiralty sanctioned edition of the accounts of Cook’s third and final voyage.
When the Discovery and the Resolution anchored in the waters of Kealakekua Bay, on the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, they were greeted by an enormous number of native Hawaiians.
‘At eleven o’clock in the forenoon, we anchored in the bay in thirteen fathoms water, over a sandy bottom, and about a quarter of a mile from the North East shore..The ships continued to be crowded with much natives and were surrounded by a multitude of canoes. I had nowhere, in the course of my voyages, seen so numerous a body of people assembled at one place. For, besides those who had come off to us in canoes, all the shore of the bay was covered with spectators, and many hundreds were swimming round the ships like shoals of fish. We could not but be struck with the singularity of this scene.’ Cook’s Journals, III, 2,1175
Hawaiian legends had predicted that Lono, one of the four primary gods of the Hawaiian pantheon, would one day return to Hawai’i on “floating islands.” The Discovery and Resolution, far larger than even the largest Hawaiian voyaging canoes, might well have been mistaken for floating islands as they sailed offshore. Many believe that Cook was treated with respectful deference as he was probably thought to be the returning Lono.
Beddie 1743-68, p.341, Joppien 3.293A, ill.p.525
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.
