• Title
  Item 1: [An old man of Tahiti / by unknown German artist, probably after William Hodges], 1792
• Call number
  PXD 1501/Item 1
  
• Level of description
  item
• Date
  
  1792
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  9639042
• Physical Description
  1 drawing - grey wash - 30.9 x 20.8 cm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  William Hodges was the official artist on James Cook's 2nd voyage (1772-1775), and produced many ethnographical drawings of the inhabitants of Pacific islands they visited. German Johann Forster and his son Georg Forster were naturalists onboard. Georg Forster’s published account of the voyage 'A Voyage Round the World' (London, 1777), contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia in the late 18th century.
  
  Forster mentions meeting an elderly Tahitian: “His head was truly venerable and was well furnished with fine locks of silvery grey and a thick beard as white as snow descended to his breast” (Forster, 1777, I, p.290). On their second visit to Tahiti Forster meets O-Rettee, chieftain of O-Hiddea, and it is believed Hodges did a portrait of him at the time. This drawing may depict one of these elderly Tahitian men.
  
  Source:
  Library correspondence file.
  
• Scope and Content
  The portrait is a drawing in grey wash on paper and is framed by a double line in black ink. The paper is watermarked 'C & I Honig'.
  
  It is of an old man of Tahiti with white beard and curly hair wearing robes (tapa) draped around his neck and shoulders. It is inscribed in German on lower left margin 'recht gut nach der vorl Forster's Hilfel' translated as 'a good copy, with Forster's help'. Below the inscription is the date '1792'.
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright: Creator died before 1955
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• Description source
  
  Titled by cataloguer.
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Numbered in upper-left corner '6a'.
• Creator/Author/Artist
  Hodges, William, 1744-1797
  Forster, Georg, 1754-1794
  
• Subject
  Tahitians
  Clothing and dress
  Tapa
  Ethnography--Pictorial works.
  O-Rettee
  
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE20036398

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