Mid-Georgian Portraits Catalogue
James Cook (1728-1779), Circumnavigator
- Gallery portraits
- All known portraits
- Biography and References
Mariner; made voyages to the South Pacific 1768-71 (in the Endeavour) and 1772-75 (Resolution), and to the North Pacific 1776-79 (Resolution), when he was murdered by natives at Hawaii; commander 1771; captain 1775; FRS 1776; ‘[my] ambition leads me not only farther than any other man has been before me, but as far as I think it possible for man to go’ (Cook’s Journals).
‘He was certainly six feet. I should rather guess that he exceeded that height. He was raw boned, with a very small head, and capable of enduring the greatest fatigue’ (Molesworth Phillips, 1826).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.
‘He was certainly six feet. I should rather guess that he exceeded that height. He was raw boned, with a very small head, and capable of enduring the greatest fatigue’ (Molesworth Phillips, 1826).
This extended catalogue entry is from the out-of-print National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Mid-Georgian Portraits 1760-1790, National Portrait Gallery, 2004, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.