A View of Matavai Bay in the Island of Otaheite [Tahiti]

William Hodges, 1744–1797

1776

Oil on canvas

Yale Center for British Art

William Hodges's painting depicts a luminous view of Matavai Bay, Tahiti, showcasing Tahitian war galleys and reflecting his sympathetic attitude toward indigenous peoples. The son of a blacksmith, William Hodges was apprenticed at the age of fourteen to the Welsh landscape painter Richard Wilson. In 1772 the artist joined Captain James Cook’s second expedition to the South Pacific as a draftsman. During the grueling three-year voyage on the Resolution, Hodges produced a remarkable series of drawings and paintings of the indigenous peoples and landscapes of the South Seas, whose existence and physical appearance had previously been in the realm of fantasy for Europeans. After his return to London, Hodges exhibited this luminous view of Matavai Bay, Tahiti, at the Royal Academy. The painting, which depi