Louis J. Steele and Charles F. Goldie the arrival of the Maoris in New Zealand (1898). (The Cover).

Louis J. Steele and Charles F. Goldie the arrival of the maoris in New Zealand (1898): Oil on canvas, 1380 mm x 2450 mm, Auckland art gallery Toi o tamaki, bequest of Helen Boyd, 1899.

The late 19th-century emergence in New Zealand of the history-painting tradition relates to the European settler (Pakeha) culture's artistic and literary quest for a national identity. By the 1880s the larger towns had established museums and art galleries intent on acquiring important "national" works, as well as art societies that promoted the achievements of local painters. Pakeha…