Joseph Banks KCB (1743-1820), naturalist, was only 25 when he suggested to the council of the Royal Society that they recommend him for inclusion on the voyage of the Endeavour. With Daniel Solander, he collected hundreds of specimens of plants and animals of the South Seas, of which many are depicted in the volumes which have come to be known as Banks' Florilegium. Banks later became President of the Royal Society. His association with Australia continued after the voyage with Cook: he advised on the establishment of the first penal settlement; he was a patron of Matthew Flinders and others; and his keen interest in Australian natural history was sustained through correspondence with all the early governors of New South Wales.
Sir Thomas Lawrence RA, the leading European portrait painter of his generation, was much admired for his splendid representations of the elegance of the aristocracy.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Purchased with the assistance of the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Canberra 2000
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