CAPTAIN James Cook has a friend at the National Portrait Gallery from today with the unveiling of a new acquisition, “Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform” c. 1776 by John Webber.
“Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform” c. 1776 by John Webber
Described by the gallery as “an exciting new acquisition of irrefutable importance to all Australians, the work will give Australians the chance to speculate on the facial characteristics of perhaps the most controversial of our early governors.
The portrait attributed to Webber, is one of the earliest portraits of Bligh, and extends the gallery’s collection of early colonial portraits.
At the recent launch of the National Portrait Gallery Foundation, the president, Sid Myer, announced this major acquisition, made possible by an act of benefaction. Myer at the time paid tribute to Canberra philanthropists, Sotiria John Liangis, for their assistance in funding the purchase of this “striking and masterful work”.
Director of the NPG Angus Trumble, said he was “overjoyed” at this purchase, one which the Portrait Gallery had been contemplating for some time.
“The work, purchased by the Gallery through Christie’s in London, has a very high level of indisputable national significance to Australia and the Gallery is immensely appreciative to the Liangis family for their support”, Trumble said.
Portrait of Captain James Cook RN, 1782, oil on canvas (116.2 x 140.0 cm) by John Webber R.A.
The portrait will take its place alongside Webber’s “Portrait of Captain James Cook RN” 1782, acquired in 2000 by the Commonwealth Government with the benefaction of Robert Oatley and John Schaeffer AO.
Bligh is a still-disputed figure whose epic 3,600 mile journey to Kupang with his companions in a small open boat after being ejected from H.M.S. Bounty remains one of the most astonishing feats of navigation on record.
Bligh not only survived the ordeal of mutiny aboard the Bounty, but faced insurrection in Sydney during his tenure as fourth Governor of New South Wales. The Rum Rebellion of 1808 damaged his reputation, but he was vindicated in London and promoted to Vice-admiral of the Blue. He ended his eventful career by mapping Dublin Bay.
The NPG depicts Bligh as “a mythic figure…the martinet versus the brilliant cartographer and genius of navigation; the deeply misunderstood versus the merely blinkered man; the blackguard versus the gentleman and officer of the Royal Navy, steeped in its sometimes brutal disciplinary code; the angry tyrant versus the lonely husband and victim of circumstance, stoutly defended again and again, as a matter of principle, by their Lordships of the Admiralty.”
In Trumble’s view, the portrait represents a different William Bligh. “Here he is represented at the age of about 25, several years before his marriage, wearing the uniform of sailing master, already skilled in navigation and seamanship, no doubt ambitious for himself, his men and his vessel, shortly before he was hand-picked by James Cook to go aboard H.M.S. Resolution, on which the artist John Webber also sailed.”
Members of the public can make up their own minds from today.
“Portrait of William Bligh, in master’s uniform” c. 1776 by John Webber, on view at the National Portrait Gallery, Parkes, from today.
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