Mrs Paramena

Text originally created for Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand exhibition at Te Papa, March 2018.

One in a pair of striking husband and wife portraits.

Raita Tuterangi commissioned this portrait from artist Gottfried Lindauer in 1885, together with her husband, Paramena Te Naonao (right). The pair travelled to Hastings, where Lindauer was temporarily based, and sat for their photographs – the basis for these paintings.

For an unknown reason, the couple never collected their portraits, and they passed into Pākehā ownership. The paintings were found in pristine condition in 1995, under a bed in Blenheim.

Tētahi i roto i ngā kōwaiwai kiritangata rangatira e rua o tētahi tāne me tana wahine.

I tonoa tēnei kōwaiwai kiritangata nā Gottfried Lindauer e Raita Tuterangi rāua ko tana hoa tāne, ko Paramena Te Naonao (matau), i te tau 1885. I haere tahi rāua ki Heretaunga, te wāhi i noho ai a Lindauer i taua wā, kia whakaahuatia rāua – koia te tauira o ēnei whakaahua.

Kāore i te mōhiotia he aha i kore ai ēnei kōwaiwai kiritangata i kohia e te whānau Paramena, na konā, i taka iho ēnei taonga ki ngā ringaringa o te Pākehā. I kitea ēnei pikitia i te tau 1995, i raro i tētahi moenga i Te Waiharakeke.