David Kalākaua by William F. Cogswell

David Laʻamea Kamanakapuʻu Mahinulani Nalaiaehuokalani Lumialani Kalākaua was King of the Kingdom of Hawai'i between 1874 and 1891, and was painted several times by the artist Cogswell. The 1891 stand portrait is the focus of this paper, which examines the reception of European aspcets at the Hawaiian court.  

The paper is part of the project "Images of Europe Outside Europe" (Europabilder außerhalb Europas), based at the Bibliotheca Hertziana - Max Planck-Institute for Art History at Rome (Italy) and directed by Matthais Weiß.

Research on the context of the painting was conducted in Hawai'i at the Hawai'i State Archives, the Bishop Museum, the 'Iolani Palace, the Hawaiian & Pacific Collections Department at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, the Robert Allerton Art Library at the Honolulu Museum of Art. 

Project: 2023-24

Publikation: Kühberger, Christoph: Standporträt von König Kalākaua. In: Blick Richtung Europa? Dreißig außereuropäische Objekte geben Antwort. Hg. v. Matthias Weiß/ Tanja Michalsky. München (Hirmer) 2025, 226-235.

Picture: Cogswell, 1891/ Public Domain/US (wikipedia)