The Pull of the Moon triptych was painted in 1995 whilst Nigel Brown was designing the awe-inspiring series of stained glass windows on the north face of Auckland's Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell. Captain Cook along with the flax kite and hammerhead sharks are powerful images that appear in both the triptych and the massive cathedral windows. In Pull of the Moon we witness the reintroduction of familiar motifs such as the ponga tree and pah terraces seen in Brown's earlier works. They are set against the vanishing perspective of the Tolaga Bay wharf. Brown visited Tolaga Bay in the 1990s and it was here that he first created his Cook paintings. In the towering central figure, strong, monumental and clearly delineated we see the influence of Brown's work with woodcuts. The hammerhead sharks are shown above the water while Cook's Endeavour is severely simplified. These treatments are deliberate, seeking to challenge the viewer's expectations and suggest powerful forces beyond understanding. All this activity takes place beneath the luminous orb of the ever-mysterious moon. Brown's unique and readily-identifiable style resonate in this major work.