Description
Biographical History: John Shillibeer was lieutenant in command of marines on board the 44-gun frigate HMS 'Briton' when it sailed from England in December 1813 for South America. While returning to Valparaiso it visited Pitcairn Island, where Shillibeer interviewed John Adams, the last survivor of the 'Bounty' mutiny. He painted a portrait of Friday Christian, Fletcher Christian's son, as well as a number of naive views which later appeared as etchings in his narrative of this eventful voyage published in 1817. Reference: 'Painting the Pacific' exhibition catalogue, State Library of New South Wales, 2002.
Image Licence
Out of copyright
Image Credit
Courtesy of Dixson Library, State Library of New South Wales
Location
Pitcairn Islands, Pitcairn
Country
Pitcairn
Tags
Category
People & Society
TWW Comment
The sitter is the son of Fletcher Christian, who led the mutiny on the Bounty in 1789, and his Tahitian wife Mauatua. He was conceived on Tahiti but raised on the Pitcairn Islands. This portrait was made on 17 September 1814 when two British frigates visited. Christian moved to Tahiti in 1831 but died that year after contracting an illness, having no natural immunity to Tahitian diseases.
