The Death of Captain James Cook (Zoffany) The Death of Captain James Cook (Zoffany) The Death of Captain James Cook, 14 February 1779 is a painting by Johann Zoffany. The painting records the loss of the British explorer Captain James Cook. The painting was completed in 1794 some years after the death of Cook in 1779. Other paintings of the death of Cook were painted earlier. The Mahiole (Feathered Helmet) that was included in the painting of Cook's death by Zoffany is said to be the helmet given to Cook when he first landed in Hawaii. The painting is unfinished. Zoffany is thought to have based the
Kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Captain James Cook remains were treated differently: the high esteem in which the islanders held Cook caused them to retain his body. Following their practice of the time, they prepared his body with funerary rituals usually reserved for the chiefs and highest elders of the society. The body was disembowelled, baked to facilitate removal of the flesh, and the bones were carefully cleaned for preservation as religious icons. Some of Cook's remains, thus preserved, were eventually returned to his crew for a formal burial at sea. Kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu by Captain James Cook Captain James Cook's 1779 attempted kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling