Overview
James Cook (1728–79) made three epic voyages to the Pacific, becoming famous as a result. The artist on his third expedition (1776–80) was John Webber, who visually recorded the people, places, and botanical specimens encountered along the way.
This portrait by Webber was probably painted after Cook’s death in Hawai‘i. It memorialises Cook, without transforming him into the hero of later depictions.
Cook was aware of his enormous achievements. He wrote in his journal: ‘[my] ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for a man to go’.