Where Is Portrait of Omai? See It at National Gallery

Q: Where can I see the Portrait of Omai?

The work jointly owned by the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Getty in Los Angeles. They acquired it together in a pioneering £50 million deal.

Q: Who was Omai?

Mai (Europeans called him Omai) was a young man from the Society Islands near Tahiti. He traveled to Britain with Captain Cook's expedition in 1774 and became a celebrity in London society before returning home in 1777.

Q: What is the Grand Manner style?

Reynolds developed this approach to raise portrait subjects through classical poses and references. The style gave sitters the dignity of ancient heroes while maintaining their individual likeness.

Working in oil on canvas, Sir Joshua Reynolds painted this full-length portrait around 1776, showing Mai (known to the English as Omai), a young man from the Society Islands who was the first Pacific Islander to visit Britain. He stands in flowing white robes with one hand outstretched and one foot forward, posed like an ancient Roman statue of Apollo.

Mai had sailed to England with Captain Cook's second expedition in 1774. London society embraced him. He met King George III, dined with Dr. Samuel Johnson, and sat for this portrait without any commission. Reynolds painted it to capitalize on Mai's celebrity, and it dominated the 1776 Royal Academy exhibition.

The work represents Reynolds's "Grand Manner" style, lifting his subject through classical references. By depicting Mai with the dignity usually reserved for European aristocrats, Reynolds created what's been called the first portrait of a person of color "painted with dignity, grandeur, and agency." The National Portrait Gallery and Getty now share ownership.

The work jointly owned by the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Getty in Los Angeles. They acquired it together in a pioneering £50 million deal.

Mai (Europeans called him Omai) was a young man from the Society Islands near Tahiti. He traveled to Britain with Captain Cook's expedition in 1774 and became a celebrity in London society before returning home in 1777.

Reynolds developed this approach to raise portrait subjects through classical poses and references. The style gave sitters the dignity of ancient heroes while maintaining their individual likeness.

It measures 230 x 140 cm (about 7.5 x 4.6 feet), a monumental scale that Reynolds reserved for his most important portraits.

Portrait of Omai

Details

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Joshua Reynolds

Sir Thomas Kennedy, James Caulfeild, Mr. Ward and Mr. Phelps

Self-portrait shading the Eyes

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About Portrait of Omai

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