Image: The Resolution and Discovery off Huaheine RMG PAI0470

Description: (Updated March 2020) This is the third print of four in Cleveley's well-known series from Captain James Cook's third voyage to the Pacific. It shows the 'Resolution' and 'Discovery' off Huaheine. Among the details, either one or both of the conical structures ashore are Cook's astronomical observation tents. According both to the captions on the prints and to the publisher's advertisement, original drawings were made during the voyage by James Cleveley, carpenter in the 'Resolution', and then turned into finished images by his brother John after James's return. Sets of titled engravings were produced by Francis Jukes and published by Thomas Martyn. Some doubts have been cast on whether these are based on original drawings by James as they contain details not accurate to the Pacific at the time, but rather taken from its wider European iconography (see Rüdiger Joppien and Bernard Smith, 'The Cleveley problem', Vol. III, pp. 216-221 in 'The Art of Cook's Voyages' [3 Vol.s, Yale UP 1988]). The other three views show 'View of Morea, one of the Friendly Islands' (Moorea today being called Eimeo), 'View of Charlotte Sound in New Zealand' (actually a view in Matavai Bay, Tahiti), 'View of Owhyhee [Hawaii], one of the Sandwich Islands' (also known as 'The Death of Cook': see PAH7776). Three oil paintings of these views -excluding the last - are in the NMM collections; BHC1838 (the present example), BHC1896 and BHC1939, but are probably copies after the prints, not Clevelely's originals for them which are more likely to have been watercolours: he did paint in oil, but was more generally a draughtsman and watercolourist.
Title: The Resolution and Discovery off Huaheine RMG PAI0470
Credit: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/150410.html
Author: John Cleveley the Younger; Francis Jukes
Permission: The original artefact or artwork has been assessed as public domain by age, and faithful reproductions of the two dimensional work are also public domain. No permission is required for reuse for any purpose. The text of this image record has been derived from the Royal Museums Greenwich catalogue and image metadata. Individual data and facts such as date, author and title are not copyrightable, but reuse of longer descriptive text from the catalogue may not be considered fair use. Reuse of the text must be attributed to the "National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London" and a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA-3.0 license may apply if not rewritten. Refer to Royal Museums Greenwich copyright.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
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