Captain James Cook OB.1779

Scarce, c.19th hand coloured engraved portrait Captain James Cook based, on the oil portrait by Nathaniel Dance which is considered to be the best likeness of Cook made.

The Dance oil portrayed Cook in captain’s full-dress uniform, consisting of a navy blue jacket and white breeches, white waistcoat embellished with gold braid and buttons. He wears a grey wig or his own hair powdered and holds his own chart of the Southern hemisphere while his right hand points to the east coast of Australia. Cook had returned from his second voyage in 1775 and had sat for this portrait, commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks, ‘for a few hours before dinner’ on 25 May 1776. This portrait had hung over the fireplace in the library of Bank’s London house. Samwell, surgeon’s mate in the ‘Resolution’ on the second voyage and surgeon on the ‘Discovery’ on the third, thought it ‘a most excellent likeness … and … the only one I have seen that bears any resemblance to him’.

References:
Beddie 3356

Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID: 1684707
Royal Collection Trust UK: RCIN 1000637
State Library Victoria: S 914.2A M36BR
State Library South Australia: 994.02 M382
State Library New South Wales: Record Identifier 74VKPGbdyQ4b

State Library Queensland: Record number 99183415416002061753