William Hodges 1744-1797: The Art of Exploration

'This exhibition will demonstrate that William Hodges has, until now, been the most unjustly neglected British painter of the 18th century,' Sir David Attenborough.

An exhibition of works by the British 18th-century landscape painter, William Hodges, whose career as an artist took him to New Zealand, the South Pacific and India, travelling at different times with Captain Cook and the East India Company.

The exhibition includes portraits of Cook, whom Hodges accompanied on his second voyage (1772-75) aboard the Resolution, and the young Tahitian, Omai, who travelled to England on the same voyage and was the subject of a famous portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds. It shows how Hodges's originality of style expanded the scope of British landscape painting to include subjects that reflected European exploration across the world.

Hodges's association with Cook is a key theme of the exhibition and illustrates his links with the history of global maritime expansion. The subjects of his paintings of Tahiti, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands were a revelation at the time for audiences in a Europe with no knowledge of the fascinating and unfamiliar scenes and cultures.

Hodges was a central figure in disseminating visual knowledge of the world in the greatest era of European geographical discovery the world has ever seen.