Portrait of King Kamehameha
The Legendary King Kamehameha unified the Hawaiian Islands in 1810, and founded the Kingdom of Hawaii. Mikhail Tikhanov met Kamehameha in the last year of his life, and painted his portrait. Despite Kamehameha’s old age, his hair has already turned white, he has an intense and serious look to him, and his forehead is creased with wrinkles. King David Kalakaua, the last King of Hawaii, describes him as follows:
“Kamehameha was a man of tremendous physical and intellectual strength. In any land and in any age he would have been a leader. The impress of his mind remains with his crude and vigorous laws, and wherever he stepped is seen an imperishable track. He was so strong of limb that ordinary men were but children in his grasp, and in council the wisest yielded to his judgment. He seems to have been born a man and to have had no boyhood. He was always sedate and thoughtful, and from his earliest years cared for no sport or pastime that was not manly. He had a harsh and rugged face, less given to smiles than frowns, but strongly marked with lines indicative of self-reliance and changeless purpose. He was barbarous, unforgiving and merciless to his enemies, but just, sagacious and considerate in dealing with his subjects. He was more feared and admired than loved and respected; but his strength of arm and force of character well fitted him for the supreme chieftaincy of the group, and he accomplished what no one else could have done in his day.”
It’s a testimony to Tikhanov’s skill that he was able to potray so accurately not only the appearance, but the unyielding of seriousness and purpose of Kamehameha’s soul. Dressed in European garb, his face covered in wrinkles, death only months away, Kamehameha still emanates a ferocious strength of will with every fiber of his being. No other man could have done what Kamehameha did in unifying the Hawaiian Islands and founding the Kamehameha dynasty. That Tikhanov could capture him so perfectly is irrefutable proof of his skill as an artist.