Captain Cook's first Kangaroo antique print c1774 (Framed)

by Cook, Captain James

Kangaroo antique print. A Singular Animal Called Kanguroo Found on the Coast of New Holland.

This is the first European illustration of a Kangaroo - and the most famous. This rare copperplate engraving was published c.1774 to illustrate Captain Cook's journal of his first voyage around the world. Official artist of the voyage, Sydney Parkinson sketched the kangaroo near what is now Cooktown, while Cook's ship, Endeavour was being repaired on the banks of the (Endeavour) River after she was damaged on the Great Barrier Reef during James Cook's discovery and charting of the east coast of Australia (after claiming the east coast of Australia for Britain and naming it New South Wales).

Naturalist Sir Joseph Banks employed scientists and artists, funded more than half of the joint Britsh Navy-Royal Society voyage, and accompanied its commander, James Cook around the world. Banks commissioned the great horse artist George Stubbs to paint the "Kanguroo" from the skin of the dead animal. As the skin was first stuffed (without having seen the animal), his depiction of the kangaroo was rather distorted. When the oil painting was displayed by the Royal Academy in London, it was the first time the British public had seen such an animal.

An engraved plate was carved from the oil painting so that the illustration could be printed for publication and circulation.

Hand-decorated 8-ply conservation ragmat within a poplar frame. This engraving measures 155 x 210mm (6 x 8 1/4 inches). The external frame measurement is 405 x 455mm (16 x 18 inches). There will be an additional shipment charge - according to requirements.