Woman of Easter Island

This engraving, after drawings by artist William Hodges, is in John Hawkesworth's account (1773) of the voyages of Captain James Cook, Joseph Banks and Captain John Byron.

Captain James Cook (1728-1779) made three separate voyages to the Pacific (with the ships Endeavour, Resolution, Adventure, and Discovery) and did more than any other voyager to explore the Pacific and Southern Ocean. Cook not only encountered Pacific cultures for the first time, but also assembled the first large-scale collections of Pacific objects to be brought back to Europe. He was killed in Hawaii in 1779.

William Hodges (1744 - 1797) joined Cook's second expedition to the South Pacific as a draughtsman 1772-75 and was employed by the Admiralty in finishing his drawings.

This is likely from Cook's visit to Easter Island in 1775. This woman has large perforations of the ear-lobe, is wearing a conical straw broad-brimmed bonnet as protection against the sun. Her head and shoulders are frontally posed, and she wears a necklace with a shell pendant.

This is the first of two such engravings.

Mounted in album with PAI3938-PAI4050, PAI4052-PAI4076.; Page 100.

Object Details

ID: PAI4051
Type: Print
Display location: Not on display
Creator: Caldwall, James
Date made: 16 Jul 1776
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Measurements: Sheet: 542 x 348 mm; Plate: 252 x 195 mm
Parts: Atlas to Cook's Voyages Vol I 1773-1777. (Illustrations are from Hawkesworth's 'Voyages to the Southern Hemisphere', all volumes, and Cook [ed. Douglas] 'A Voyage towards the South Pole... ' [1773-75], page 70 onwards) (Album)