Depicting the arrival of Māori

Depicting the arrival of Māori

Based on Theodore Géricault's famous ‘The raft of the Medusa’, which depicts the terror of a shipwreck, this is one of New Zealand’s best-known historical paintings. It was painted by Louis J. Steele and Charles Goldie in 1898. Entitled ‘The arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand’, it has been criticised for its portrayal of Māori as starving gaunt figures. Although there is only one canoe visible, the painting has probably done more than any other image to popularise the myth of a great fleet landing in New Zealand.