John Webber (6 October 1751[William Hauptman, "Webber before Cook: two water-colours after Sterne," The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 136, No. 1903 (Apr 1994), p. 237.] – 29 May 1793) was an English artist who accompanied Captain Cook on his third Pacific Ocean expedition. He is best known for his images of Australasia, Hawaii and Alaska.
Biography
Webber was born in London, educated in
Bern and studied painting at Paris.
His father was Abraham Wäber, a Swiss sculptor who had moved to London, and changed his name to Webber before marrying a Mrs Mary Quant in 1744.
Webber served as official artist on James Cook's third voyage of discovery around the Pacific (1776–1780) aboard . At Adventure Bay in January 1777 he did drawings of "A Man of Van Diemen's Land" and "A Woman of Van Diemen's Land". He also did many drawings of scenes in New Zealand and the South Sea islands.
In April 1778, Captain Cook's ships Resolution and Discovery anchored at Ship Cove, in King George's Sound, now known as Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, Canada to refit. The crew took observations and recorded encounters with the local people. Webber made watercolour landscapes including "Resolution and Discovery in Ship Cove, 1778". His drawings and paintings were engraved for the British Admiralty's account of the expedition, which was published in 1784.
Back in England in 1780 Webber exhibited around 50 works at Royal Academy exhibitions between 1784 and 1792, and was elected an associate of the Royal Academy in 1785 and R.A. in 1791. Most of his work were landscapes. Sometimes figures were included as in "A Party from H.M.S. Resolution shooting sea horses", which was shown at the academy in 1784, and his "The Death of Captain Cook" became well known through an engraving of it. Another version of this picture is in the William Dixson gallery at Sydney.
Collections
The Anchorage Museum of History and Art (Alaska), the
Museum of the Aleutians (Alaska), the
Bishop Museum (Honolulu), the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, Massachusetts), the Yale University Art Gallery, the
British Museum,
the Sir John Soane's Museum (London), The National Maritime Museum (London), the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
, the John Carter Brown Library, and the Mitchell Library (Australia) are among the public collections holding works by John Webber.
Australia
Webber's art is held by a number of Australian institutions including the National Portrait Gallery (
William Bligh, c.1776,
The Death of Captain Cook (engraving), 1784, and
Portrait of Captain James Cook RN, 1782);
the Australian National Maritime Museum (
View of Huaheine, 1784);
the Art Gallery of New South Wales (
A View in Otaheite Peha, 1785);
the National Library of Australia (includes
Sea Otter, 1778,
, 1780,
, 1780,
, 1782,
, 1782,
, 1784,
, 1784,
, 1787,
and
The Resolution Beating Through the Ice, 1792,
); the Dixson Library (includes
An Opossum of Van Diemen's Land, 1777,
, 1777,
and
The Death of Captain Cook, c.1781–83.
); and the National Gallery of Victoria (
A Night Dance by Men, in Hapaee, 1784,
, 1784,
and
A Man of Van Diemen's Land, 1784.
).
==Works==
woman, painted in 1777 by John Webber]]
See also
-
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
-
Ellis, George R., Honolulu Academy of Arts, Selected Works, Honolulu, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1990, 178,
-
Forbes, David W., Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778–1941, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 15–85.
External links
