Portrait of Omai

Working in oil on canvas, Sir Joshua Reynolds painted this full-length portrait around 1776, showing Mai (known to the English as Omai), a young man from the Society Islands who was the first Pacific Islander to visit Britain. He stands in flowing white robes with one hand outstretched and one foot forward, posed like an ancient Roman statue of Apollo.

Mai had sailed to England with Captain Cook's second expedition in 1774. London society embraced him. He met King George III, dined with Dr. Samuel Johnson, and sat for this portrait without any commission. Reynolds painted it to capitalize on Mai's celebrity, and it dominated the 1776 Royal Academy exhibition.

The work represents Reynolds's "Grand Manner" style, lifting his subject through classical references. By depicting Mai with the dignity usually reserved for European aristocrats, Reynolds created what's been called the first portrait of a person of color "painted with dignity, grandeur, and agency." The National Portrait Gallery and Getty now share ownership.