Television appearance
How William Hodges Invented Paradise
Leslie Primo presents a HENI Talks film on the paintings William Hodges made on Captain James Cook's second voyage, and the gap between what he saw and what he chose to paint.
- Channel
- HENI Talks
- Broadcast
- Leslie's role
- Presenter
What did paradise look like in the eighteenth century, and how much of it was real?
In 1772 Hodges joined Captain James Cook's second voyage. He travelled through the Pacific and made some of the earliest European images of places such as Tahiti and Easter Island. His paintings were more than straightforward records: European traditions of Eden, Arcadia and the ideal landscape shaped them.
Presented by the author and art historian Leslie Primo, the film explores the space between what Hodges saw and what he chose to paint.