1788
oil
canvas
From the collection of National Portrait Gallery
Portrait of Omai is a 1788 oil by Joshua Reynolds, a Rococo painting work, held at National Portrait Gallery.
Portrait of Omai is a formal oil painting by Sir Joshua Reynolds, finished around 1776. The work shows Omai, a Polynesian visitor who traveled to Britain in the eighteenth century. It was created with oil paint on canvas, a common medium for Reynolds’s portraits. The painting is part of the collection at the J. Paul Getty Museum, where it is displayed among other works from the same period. Reynolds chose Omai as his subject, reflecting the era’s fascination with far‑away travelers. Next, check out the museum: J. Paul Getty Museum.
Portrait of Mai (Omai) (also known as Portrait of Omai, Omai of the Friendly Isles or simply Omai) is an oil-on-canvas portrait of Omai, a Polynesian visitor to the Kingdom of Great Britain, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, completed about 1776.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Mai (known in English as Omai) left the Society Islands (specifically, Raiatea) with Commander Tobias Furneaux on his ship HMS Adventure. The Adventure had left Great Britain in 1772, accompanying Captain James Cook on his second voyage of discovery in the Pacific, and visited Tahiti and Huahine in 1773. After visiting New Zealand, Omai arrived in Great Britain on Furneaux's ship in July 1774. Mai was admired by London society, staying with the President of the Royal Society Sir Joseph Banks and meeting King George III, Dr Samuel Johnson, Frances Burney, and other English celebrities. He…
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reynolds portrayed Mai as an exotic figure—an idealized depiction echoing Jean-Jacques Rousseau's concept of a noble savage. He stands barefoot, alone in a rural Arcadian landscape with unusual palm-like trees. Reynolds invokes a sense of receding space as Mai moves across the landscape, making a patrician gesture. He is wearing flowing "oriental" white robes resembling a version of ceremonial Tahitian dress, associated with Tahitian nobility and the priestly classes. The sash around his waist is in a different pigment - slightly creamier compared to the tunic he's wearing, with light red…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Source: wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits.
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