print
- Museum number
- 1870,0514.477
- Title
- Object: The Plantain Tree
- Description
-
A plantain tree standing to the right of a bamboo hut, built on stilts, surrounded by palms, with a local man carrying a spear, wearing a cloth around his waist, to right. 1788
Hand-coloured soft-ground etching
- Production date
- 1788
- Dimensions
-
Height: 434 millimetres
-
Width: 317 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- In the original drawing, the man is shown fully-clothed (Joppein & Smith no. 3.413).
John Webber was the official artist on Cook's final voyage through the Pacific; his drawings formed the basis for printed illustrations to the account of the voyage 'A Voyage to the Pacific', published in 1784, engraved by various artists. He also published his own prints of drawings he made on the voyages privately, in 1788. Several of the plates were re-published by J Boydell in 1808. For more information, including details on the publication of Cook's Voyages, see: Joppien, Rüdiger and Smith, Bernard 'The Art of Captain Cook's Voyages', 3 Vols. (Yale UP 1988). For information on the set republished by Boydell, see also Abbey 595.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1870
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1870,0514.477
