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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
Sir Thomas Lawrence (age 41 in 1810)
Anthony Cardon (age 38 in 1810)
Sir Joseph Banks KCB (age 67 in 1810)
Australian Decorative & Fine Arts Society Canberra Inc. (3 portraits supported)
On one level The Companion talks about the most famous and frontline Australians, but on another it tells us about ourselves: who we read, who we watch, who we listen to, who we cheer for, who we aspire to be, and who we'll never forget. The Companion is available to buy online and in the Portrait Gallery Store.
Celebrating a new painted portrait of Joseph Banks, Sarah Engledow spins a yarn of the naturalist, the first kangaroo in France and Don, a Spanish ram.
Anne Sanders writes about the exhibitions Victoria & Albert: Art & Love on display at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace and the retrospective of Sir Thomas Lawrence at the National Portrait Gallery, London.