Artwork Information

Gottfried Lindauer was born in Pilsen, Bohemia, and studied portrait painting at the Academy in Vienna from 1855 until 1861. He moved to Germany in 1873 but was eager to avoid compulsory military service; portrait commissions had been in decline since the introduction of photography so Lindauer decided to try his luck abroad. He sailed from Hamburg aboard the Reichstag and in August 1874 arrived in New Zealand, where he quickly developed a reputation as a portraitist, receiving commissions from prominent Māori and colonial settlers alike. Friendships with photographer Samuel Carnell and ornithologist Walter Buller led to some important commissions and a dozen works from the Buller collection were exhibited at the 1886 Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London. Paora Tūhaere was the nephew of the rangatira Apihai Te Kawau, an esteemed leader of Ngāti Whātua. He and his wife Harata Rewiri Tarapata lived at Ōrākei, on the shores of Ōkahu Bay. In portraits commissioned by Māori clients the sitter is almost always shown in European clothing, whereas those painted for Pākehā patrons such as Buller usually featured traditional Māori attire. (from The Guide, 2001)