''The Last Voyage of Henry Hudson'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by English artist

John Collier John Collier may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Collier (caricaturist) (1708–1786), English caricaturist and satirical poet *John Payne Collier (1789–1883), English Shakespearian critic and forger *John Collier (painter) (1850–1934) ...

, 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 En ...

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 lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

, when his crew mutinied in

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

, 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 (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

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

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

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

References

Further reading