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C1785
Poulaho, Roi Des Isles Des Amis.
Artist:
Rare engraving from the French edition of Cook’s voyages. On the 28th, May 1777, as Cook was about to leave Ha’apai, Paulaho came on board ‘and brought me one of their Caps made or at least covered with red feathers. … Read Full Description
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Details
Full Title:
Poulaho, Roi Des Isles Des Amis.
Date:
C1785
Artist:
Condition:
In good condition.
Technique:
Copper engraving.
Image Size:
185mm
x 245mm
Paper Size:
205mm
x 270mm
AUTHENTICITY
Genuine antique
dated:
1785
Description:
Rare engraving from the French edition of Cook’s voyages.
On the 28th, May 1777, as Cook was about to leave Ha’apai, Paulaho came
on board ‘and brought me one of their Caps made or at least covered with
red feathers. ..These Caps or rather bonnets are made of the tail
feathers of the Tropic bird with red feathers of the Paroquets worked
upon them or in along with them, they are made so as to tie upon the
forehead without any Crown, and have the form of a Semicircle whose
raids is 18 o9r 21 Inches’. Cook Journals III, i.117.
Cook had described Paulaho as ‘the corperate plump fellow we had met with’.
‘About
Noon a large sailing Canoe came under our Stern in which the Indians on
board told us was Fattafee Polaho [Fatafehi Paulaho] King of all the
Isles. He brought with him as a present to me two good fat hogs, though
not so fat as himself, for he was the most corperate plump fellow we had
met with. I found him to be a Sedate sensible man… I asked him down
into the Cabbin, some of his attendants objected to this, saying if he
went there people would walk over his head and this was never done. I
desired Omai to till them I would remove that objection by giving orders
that no one should walk on that part of the deck’ but the chief ‘waved
the ceremony and walked down with me without any more to do.’
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.
