Barry, James : [The Rev Thomas Kendall and the Maori chiefs Hongi and Waikato]

Waikato on the left, Hongi Hika in the centre, both standing and wearing kiwi feather cloaks and flax skirts, both carrying mere. Hongi shown holding a taiaha as well. Thomas Kendall is seated on the right holding a book, probably the Bible

See Binney, Judith. The legacy of guilt ... (920 KEN) p.63; see also Proceedings of the C.M.S., 1818- (Serials stack, PRO). See also Artists Biographies Index for details of correspondence about this and other work by James Barry. See Artists' File for copy of CMS minutes resolving that Barry be asked to paint the portrait, minutes dated October 30 1820.

Inscriptions: Verso - According to the catalogue card for this item, there is a note on the back. It is currently covered by the backing board. Possibly a historical note.; Recto - bottom right - J. Barry 1820

James Barry was a lay member of the C.M.S., and treasurer of its Durham Office, 1833-1846. He was commissioned by the Society to paint this portrait and the portraits of Tuhi and Titore. Painted in London during the visit of Hongi Hika, Ngapuhi leader, and Waikato, a younger Ngapuhi leader, accompanied by the Rev Thomas Kendall, C.M.S. missionary in New Zealand

Quantity: 1 oil(s).

Physical Description: Oil on canvas 720 x 920 mm

Provenance: This portrait hung in the premises of the Church Missionary Society, London, from the time of its commissioning in 1820. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Society had come to believe that the European in the picture was Samuel Marsden, who had a good reputation in New Zealand (if not in Australia, where he was known as "the flogging parson"). Dr T. M. Hocken saw the painting, realised that it showed Kendall, who, for moral reasons, had been disowned by the C.M.S. in 1823. Hocken told New Zealand collector T.E.Donne, who informed the C.M.S. of Kendall's identity. Donne (Director of Tourist and Publicity) suggested he should solve their embarrassment, by taking the picture away, and they agreed. The painting hung in Tourist and Publicity, Wellington, for many years, until a new director in the late 1930s decided that the Library was a more appropriate home for the painting. (Verbal information from staff member Mr A. Murray-Oliver, June 1981)

Processing information: Remedial treatment funded by Radha Sahar & Charles Bagnall; Alan, Jill and Nicolas Bagnall; through the Turnbull Endowment Trust, in 2021.