From Voyages of Discovery by Tony Rice © The Natural History Museum, London
From Voyages of Discovery by Tony Rice © The Natural History Museum, London |
When the 25-year-old Joseph Banks boarded the Endeavour with James Cook, he brought with him, among others, two artists. Alexander Buchan came along to paint portraits, artifacts, and figure scenes. The other, Sydney Parkinson, was to paint natural history objects. Much could go wrong on 18th-century ship voyages, and much did on the Endeavour. Alexander Buchan, died shortly after the ship reached Tahiti. That left Parkinson to illustrate all the specimens Banks collected, with only a little help from Banks's secretary. Tropical temperatures and a rocking ship added to Parkinson's challenges as he tried desperately to keep up with the collections of plants, marine and terrestrial animals, and sea birds. According to some accounts, bugs ate pigments off the paper as Parkinson tried to paint what he saw.
Despite the adverse conditions, Parkinson sketched and painted heroically. A diary entry from Banks in May 1770 indicated that Parkinson had completed 94 sketches in just 14 days. Likewise, crew members recalled that the diligent young man would work all through the night. More than simple sketches, Parkinson's works usually also contained detailed notes on colors, with the expectation that they could be added after he returned home.
When the Endeavour arrived in Batavia (now Jakarta), Cook decided to stop for badly needed repairs. For many members of the crew, that decision proved fatal; the ship's company contracted malaria and dysentery. Seven men died in Batavia. Twenty-three more would die before the ship reached Cape Town, and Parkinson was one of them. Cook returned to England a hero, and Banks more so. But much of what brings the trip alive today are the illustrations Parkinson produced in what would prove to be the last few years of his life. Parkinson was not even 30 years old when he succumbed to illness, but by the time he died, he had produced 280 paintings of plants, and some 900 sketches of plants and animals. Among them was perhaps the first European sketch of an iconic Australian animal, the "kangaru."
For more information:
Voyages of Discovery by Tony Rice
Joseph Banks: A Life by Patrick O'Brian
"The Greening of the Empire: Sir Joseph Banks" by T.H. Watkins in National Geographic Magazine, November, 1996 issue
"Recording Color in Late Eighteenth Century Botanical Drawings: Sydney Parkinson, Ferdinand Bauer and Thaddaus Haenke" by H. Walter Lack and Victoria Ibáñez in Curtis's Botanical Magazine, May 1997 issue
Dry Store Room No. 1 by Richard Fortey
Narrative text and graphic design © by Michon Scott - Updated June 12, 2009