Teodoro Viero

Italy, b.1740, d.1819

Otoo, Re di Tahiti, Isola nel Mar Pacifico del Sud

Otoo, King of Tahiti. Island in the South Pacific Sea
  • c. 1783-c. 1790
  • Copper engraving
  • Purchased, 2007
  • 381 x 262mm
  • 2007/013

In the collection exhibition ‘Brought to Light’, a selection of prints by Italian engraver Teodoro Viero were juxtaposed with prints by contemporary New Zealand artist Robin White to offer two views of the Pacific, from two centuries apart. Viero offers what are some of the first European portrayals of the peoples of the Pacific. Created in Venice, Italy, Viero’s are long-distance imaginings, combining European artistic conventions with borrowings from painter-travellers such as William Hodges, who travelled to the Pacific with James Cook. (Brought to Light, November 2009)

Exhibition History