PROVENANCE

Private Collection, England until mid 1940s Acquired by V E Donald, Masterton Same New Zealand family collection since

EXHIBITED Royal Academy, London 1927

Originally of Otaki, Rakapa married into Arawa and her waiata were and remain the songs of Rotorua Maori elders as well as those of the Ngati-Toa and Ngati-Raukawa. Rakapas's family by marriage, fought for the colonial government in the North Island Land Wars of the mid-19th century.

C F Goldie chose to paint Rakapa on at least five occasions. Immaculately portrayed, the artist's masterful treatment of wrinkled skin and greying hair encourages closer scrutiny. This favoured subject bears traditional moko, pounamu/greenstone earings and talisman tiki.

A newspaper article dated 1927 and affixed verso reads: London, May 24, 1927. Another of Mr C F Goldie's three Academy pictures has been sold. The purchaser is a lady who lives in the South of England. She has chosen Memories, a Chieftainess of the Arawa Maori. Even before the Royal Academy opened to the public, Mr Goldie's An Aristrocrat - Atama Paparangi A Chieftain of the Rarawas - bore the distinctive red seal which indicates 'Sold'. Memories was priced on the official chart at £262.10.

In Polynesian portraiture Mr C F Goldie stands pre-eminent in the world today. New Zealand has every reason to be proud of him: Governor General Lord Bledisloe Quote from C F Goldie: His Life & Painting, Alister Taylor & Jan Glen, 1979