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C1785
Interieur D’un Hippah De La Nouvel…
Artist:
The inside of a Hippah, in New Zealand, French edition engraving first issued in the third voyage accounts. The pā shown is probably the fortified village on the island of Motuara, visited by Cook on 15 February and by Anderson … Read Full Description
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Details
Full Title:
Interieur D’un Hippah De La Nouvelle Zelande.
Date:
C1785
Artist:
Condition:
In good condition, with fold as issued.
Technique:
Copper engraving.
Image Size:
370mm
x 240mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1785
Description:
The inside of a Hippah, in New Zealand, French edition engraving first issued in the third voyage accounts.
The pā shown is probably the fortified village on the island of Motuara, visited by Cook on 15 February and by Anderson on 20 February, 1777. The view is taken looking north with Motuara in the background. It was visited by Cook on his first voyage, then Furneaux on the second voyage where he established his winter quarters and William Bayly’s his observatory. Between the second and third voyage, the pā had been rebuilt but was again deserted. This gave Webber an opportunity to also sketch it from the inside.
‘I made an excursion in my boat to look for grass, and visited the Hippah or fortified Village at the SW point of Motuara, and the places w[h]ere our Gardens were on that island. There were no people at the former but the houses and pallisades were rebuilt and in good order and had been inhabited not long before.’ Cook Journals III, I, 62.
John Webber (1752 - 1793)
Born in London in 1752, the son of a Swiss sculptor. He received his early artistic training in London before continuing his studies in Paris under Jean-Georges Wille, where he developed the precise draughtsmanship that later distinguished his work. By the early 1770s he had returned to Britain and established himself as a promising young artist. In 1776 Webber was appointed official artist to James Cook's 3rd and final voyage of exploration. The expedition, undertaken in HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, sought a northern passage between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. During the voyage, which lasted until 1780, Webber produced an extensive visual record of the regions visited, including the Pacific Islands, the northwest coast of North America, and parts of eastern Asia. His drawings documented landscapes, settlements, flora, fauna, and the inhabitants encountered by the expedition, particularly in places such as Tahiti, Hawai‘i, and Nootka Sound. Webber was present during the final stages of the voyage, including the events surrounding Cook’s death at Kealakekua Bay in 1779. His work from this period includes some of the earliest European visual representations of Hawaiian society. Throughout the expedition he worked under demanding conditions, often producing rapid sketches in the field which were later refined into finished compositions. Following his return to Britain, Webber prepared many of his drawings for engraving for the official account of the voyage, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, published in 1784. These images played a central role in shaping European understanding of the Pacific and its peoples. His work combined empirical observation with the compositional conventions of late eighteenth-century European art, and it contributed to the visual culture of exploration. Webber exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and continued to produce paintings and drawings based on his travels, as well as other subjects. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1785, reflecting his professional standing. His later work included both exhibition pieces and commissioned works, though he remained best known for his Pacific imagery. John Webber died in London in 1793 at the age of forty-one. His surviving drawings and paintings are held in major collections, including the British Museum and other institutions, and they remain an important visual record of Cook’s Third Voyage.
