Picturing the Pacific: Joseph Banks and the shipboard artists of Cook and Flinders

For over 50 years between the 1760s and the early 19th century, the pioneers who sailed from Europe to explore the Pacific brought back glimpses of a new world in the form of oil paintings, watercolors and drawings--a sensational view of a part of the world few would ever see. Today these works represent a fascinating and inspiring perspective from the frontier of discovery.

It was Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who popularized the placement of professional artists on Bri...