''The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by English artist John Collier, created in 1881. It is part of the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

collections since 1881.

History and description

The painting depicts the historical event that happened during English navigator

Henry Hudson Henry Hudson ( 1565 – disappeared 23 June 1611) was an English sea explorer and navigator during the early 17th century, best known for his explorations of present-day Canada and parts of the northeastern United States. In 1607 and 16 ...

final voyage to search for the

Northwest passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arc ...

, when his crew mutinied in Hudson Bay, and he, his son and others were abandoned in a small boat, on 23 June 1611. It is unknown what happened to Hudson, his son and his men after this, but its presumed that they eventually died of cold or starvation. Collier depicts Hudson, dressed in black and with a grey beard, at the rudder of his ship, staring eerily while holding the hand of his son, who is at his feet. To the left, a mustached man with a vague gaze covers himself with a fur blanket. The vast, desolated

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

landscape, with an iceberg and a snow covered mountain visible to the left, serves as the background to the human drama that has unfolded. The painting drew the attention of his contemporary viewers to the ongoing Arctic explorations in the 19th century, including other attempts to find the

.The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson, National Geographic
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History and description

References

Further reading