King Kamehameha I, (sculpture).

King Kamehameha I, (sculpture).

Gould, Thomas Ridgeway, 1818-1881, sculptor.

F. Barbedienne fonderie, founder.

King Kamehameha I, (sculpture).

Modeled ca. 1878-1880. Cast 1880. Dedicated May 8, 1883. Rededicated June 10, 2001.

Digital Reference:

Sculpture: brass, painted with oil base enamel; Upper base:blue stone; Lower base: concrete.

Sculpture: approx. 10 ft. 7 in. x 4 ft. 5 in. x 4 ft. 8 in.; Base: approx. 5 ft. 1/2 in. x 5 ft. 7 in. x 5 ft. 7 in.

(On sculpture plinth, back:) T.R. Gould/NV CT Fecit/Florence 1879 signed

Full-length portrait of King Kamehameha I dressed in the traditional garments of a Hawaiian ruler: a full-length feathered cloak, mahiole (helmet), malo (loincloth) and sandals. He is shown standing. In his proper left hand he carries a pololu (spear) and his proper right arm is raised.

Portrait male -- Kamehameha I

Occupation -- Other -- Aristocrat

Object -- Weapon -- Spear

Dress -- Ethnic -- Hawaiian Dress

Ethnic -- Polynesian

Landscape -- Rocks

Outdoor Sculpture -- Hawaii -- Kapaau

Administered by State of Hawaii, Department of Accounting and General Services, P.O. Box 178, Hawi, Hawaii 96719

Located Kohala Civic Center, Akoni Pule Road, Kapaau, Hawaii

Formerly located Ainakea School, Grounds, North Kohala, Hawaii 1883-1912.

This sculpture is the first of four castings. The idea for the monument to King Kamehameha originated with Senator Walter Murray Gibson. The sculpture was commissioned to celebrate the centennial of Captain Cook's "discovery" of the Hawaiian Islands, and was funded with $10,000 allocated by the Hawaii State Legislature in 1878. The sculpture was modeled in Florence by Thomas Gould and was cast in Paris. The sculpture was intended to be placed in front of Aliiolani Hale (now the Judiciary Building) in Honolulu. However, during shipment in 1880, the sculpture sank in a shipwreck off the coast of the Falkland Islands. A second cast was commissioned for Honolulu with the money from the insurance settlement, and with the additional money, this second cast included four gilded bronze reliefs depicting the life of King Kamehameha (see IAS 87600018). The artist died while modeling the first relief, and his son, Marshall S. Gould, completed the remaining work.

A few years later, when the original cast (IAS 87600019) was recovered from the ocean, it was installed in front of a store in Port Stanley. There Captain Jervis, the captain of a British ship, recognized the sculpture and purchased it. He brought it to Honolulu on March 27, 1882, and sold it to the Hawaiian government. The had arrived in Honolulu with a gouge in the feather cape, and without the right arm, and without the spear. A new right arm was cast at the Paris foundry, and a new bronze spear was cast, perhaps in Paris. The repairs were carried out in Honolulu in 1883. After the repairs were completed, the sculpture was shipped to North Kohala for installation in front of the boys school in Ainakea on May 8, 1883, near Kamehameha I's birth place. The sculpture was moved to Kapaau in 1912, and was installed on a blue stone base in front of the courthouse, now the Kohala Civic Center.

Soon after the original cast was discovered, the second casting (IAS record 87600018) arrived in Honolulu from Paris, and was installed in front of the Aliiolani Hale on Feb. 14, 1883. A third casting, taken from the original mold, was made in 1968 for National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol (IAS record 87600020). A fourth casting was erected in Wailoa River State Park in Hilo in 1997 (IAS record 71500343).

IAS files contain a newsclippings from the Hawaii Tribune Herald, Nov. 24, 1985; a brochure from Civic Center, "Guide to Historic North Kohala," by Mitsue Cook Carlson; and more complete history of sculpture.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Hawaii survey, 1993.

Radford, Georgia & Warren, "Sculpture in the Sun: Hawaii's Art for Open Spaces," Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1978.

Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.

SOS Conservation Treatment Award, 1999.

SOS Achievement Award, 2001.

Glenn Wharton, 2001.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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