View of Karakakooa Bay in Owhyhee, where Captn. Cook was Killed"

OZANNE, Nicolas-Marie (1728 -1811), after WEBBER, John (1750?-1793). "View of Karakakooa Bay in Owhyhee, where Captn. Cook was Killed". ca 1785. Single sheet, tipped-in to modern mount (6 x 10 6/8 inches). EXCEPTIONALLY FINE WATERCOLOUR DRAWING, after the "View of Karakakooa Bay in Owhyhee, where Captn. Cook was Killed" by John Webber, published in 1784 to accompany the official account of Cook's third voyage, showing HMS Resolution and Discovery in the background and boats and canoes of the Hawaiians busy in the bay, all against the backdrop of a towering forest covered cliff. Provenance: with 19th-century pencilled inscription on the verso: "P Ozanne Ohaite" and "6F"; with Christie's Paris, 1st April 2016, lot 62, attributed to Pierre Ozanne One of a series of fine watercolour drawings painted in reduced format after the originals created to accompany the published accounts of Cook's voyages. Ozanne's depiction of "Resolution Bay" after William Hodges is part of the celebrated touring exhibition of the Rothschild drawings of Waddesdon Manor, see item 7 in Juliet Carey's catalogue of the exhibition "Theatres of Life.". Nicholas Ozanne was a marine artist best known for a series of views of French ports and for illustrating the works of Duhamel du Monceau. His sister, Jeanne-Françoise Ozanne (1735 - 1795), was an engraver - her works include Vues de Dieppe, de Saint- Valéry, de Livourne, des colonies françaises. His second sister, Marie-Jeanne Ozanne (1736 1786), married the engraver Le Gouaz, whilst her own works include Vue de Livourne and Temps serein, after Vernet ; the Ferme flamande and the Relais flamands, after Wouwerman. His brother, Pierre Ozanne (1737 1813) was an engraver and marine engineer, and it may be that Nicholas intended that his brother should engrave this exquisite drawing for publication, hence the inscription on the verso. The original artist of this view, John Webber, was the official artist of Cook's third voyage A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, 1784. However he did not witness the tragic scene of Cook's death himself, and therefore did not include a depiction of it in the official account. Instead this image of Karakakooa Bay was included, and "The Death of Captain Cook" privately and separately published by Webber in 1782. It took eleven months for the news of Cook's death on the 14th February 1779 in Hawaii to reach the British Admiralty in London. Cook's third and tragic last voyage had attempted to locate the much sought-after North-West Passage, a longed-for ice-free sea route which would link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. After a long tour of the coast of Alaska as far as the Arctic Circle, Cook decided to over-winter in Hawaii, which he had named after his patron the Earl of Sandwich. "After carrying out a running survey of the easternmost of the Hawaiian Islands, Cook anchored in Kealakekua Bay on the island of Hawaii on 17 January 1779. At first he was well received and by some accounts was considered by the Hawaiians as the embodiment of their god Lono. On 4 February 1779 Cook got under way to continue his survey of the islands but was forced to return to Kealakekua Bay for repairs after the Resolution's foremast was damaged in a violent storm. It soon became clear that his return was not welcome, and bad relations culminated in the theft of the Discovery's cutter. On the morning of 14 February Cook, with less than his usual judgment, landed with an escort of marines in an attempt to persuade the local chief to return on board where he intended to hold him as a hostage against the return of the cutter. The chief readily agreed to accompany Cook, but at the landing place they were met by a hostile crowd and in the altercation that followed Cook and four of the marines were killed" (Andrew C. F. David for DNB). The most matter-of-fact account of Cook's death is to be found in the journal of First-Lieutenant James Burney (later Read Admiral): "with Glasses we could see Capt'n. Cook r.…