Portrait of Tu, Pomare I of Tahiti, by John Webber

Turnbull Library Record, Volume 11, Issue 2, 1 October 1978, Page 112

Portrait of Tu, Pomare I of Tahiti, by John Webber

ANTHONY MURRAY-OLIVER

Captain Cook visited Matavai Bay, his favourite anchorage at Tahiti, for the fourth and last time in August 1778, on the Third Voyage. It has long been known that at that time John Webber, RA (1752-93), the official artist on that voyage, painted a portrait in oils of Tu, the young chief who was later to found the Pomare dynasty that ruled Tahiti for nearly a century. Tu, as Pomare I, came to power in 1791: in 1880 Pomare V abdicated and handed his kingdom to France. The portrait ofTu was lost sight of until it came on the market at Christie’s auction in London in October 1977. Recently it has been acquired by the Library, the Endowment Trust contributing $5,000 toward the purchase price of $9,000. Webber was a skilled portraitist and this painting is a fine work, of particular interest because the only other pictorial record of Tu is a red chalk drawing made by William Hodges on the Second Voyage, now in the Rex Nan Kivell Collection of the National Library of Australia, Canberra.

Webber’s portrait has an excellent provenance. It was in the possession of Captain James King, RN, who took command of H.M.S. Discovery after the death of both Cook and Captain Clerke in 1779 and who wrote the official account of the Third Voyage subsequent to Cook’s death at Hawaii. The painting remained with King’s descendants until it was sold last year. It was one of the very few Cook associated paintings still in private hands, the great bulk being already held in institutions around the world, so that the Library was fortunate to be able to acquire this important example of such work. When Webber painted the portrait of Tu at Tahiti in August 1777 the young chief was about 25 years old. He lived until 1803. Although Cook did not meet Tu on his first visit in 1769, he heard of him as a high-ranking but minor chief who was not popular with the other chiefs. When Cook did meet Otou, as he called him, in August 1773 he was not disposed to be favourably impressed, writing that (perhaps from hearsay) ‘he seems to be a timorous Prince.’ But on his return in May 1774 Cook admitted to having changed his opinion. ‘When I was last here I conceived but an inddiferent Opinion of Otou’s Talents as a King, but the

improvements he has sence made in the isles has convinc’d me of my Mistake and that he must be a Man of good parts, he has indeed some judicious, sensible men about him whom I beleive have a great share in the Government. I am sorry to see a jealousy subsisting between him and other great Men . . In August 1777 Tu was in high favour and as previously spent much time at Matavai Bay, while Cook also visited him at Pare, a little further along the coast, where he enjoyed Tu’s hospitality on more than one occasion and frequently exchanged gifts with him. Clever, shrewd and ambitious, Tu took full advantage of Cook’s highly influential patronage and of continued English support subsequently, and of the gradual elimination of his chiefly rivals in the frequent wars.

An eighteenth century account purports to give the circumstances in which the portrait was painted. It first mentions the visit to Tahiti in July 1788 of the transport Lady Penrhyn and a meeting there with Tu. ‘The charming proof of O’too’s tender and inviolable friendship for Captain Cook’ was attested by Tu’s being ‘attended by a man carrying the portrait of that illustrious Englishman, without which he never moves from one place to another’. The account indicates that, according to the artist himself, ‘O’too, by the Captain’s particular desire, sat to Mr Webber, in order to furnish such a memorial of his features, as might serve for the subject of a complete whole length picture, on the return of the ship to England. . . . [Tu] was informed that it would be kept by Captain Cook, as a perpetual memorial of his person, his friendship, and the many favours received from him. He seemed pleased with the idea, and instantly replied, that, for the very same reasons, a picture of Captain Cook would be highly acceptable to him. . . . Captain Cook, charmed with the natural sincerity of his manner, complied with his request much more readily than on any other occasion he would have granted such a favour.’

It appears that the projected full length portrait of Tu was never painted so the present head and shoulders study gains added importance. According to family legend King already had a Webber portrait of Cook and at the latter’s request exchanged it for that of Tu so that the chief might be given the Captain’s likeness that he so much desired. This of course has long vanished.

The highlight of the Turnbull’s extensive holdings of material relating to the Pacific is the great Voyages Collection, with especial emphasis on Cook. The Cook Collection is probably the most comprehensive and important in the world, including all significant published items and also Professor Beaglehole’s photocopies of all known Cook related manuscripts. The Library also holds a small collection of original manuscripts and works of art in this field. In 1973 the Endowment Trust purchased at Christie’s an excellent large red chalk drawing of a man ofTanna in the New Hebrides, by Hodges; and in 1976 the Library acquired a large collection of Pacific drawings made on the Third Voyage by William Ellis, which are of great research value to both historians and scientists.

The Webber portrait ofTu is not only of considerable merit as a work of art but is also of great historical importance, both for its close associations with Cook and King and because of Tu’s place in the history of the South Pacific. The painting is a most valuable addition, one of the most important Pacific acquisitions to the Library in the sixty years since the death of the founder.