ommissioned portraits gave Māori control over how they were represented. This portrait was probably painted for this unidentified girl or her whānau [family]. Gottfried Lindauer’s portraits of Māori painted for Pākehā usually feature customary adornment and clothing. But this elegant young woman wears beautifully tailored European clothing – her own choice of personal expression.
Lindauer painted many portraits for Māori clients from the mid 1870s. For his sitters, portraiture was another way of representing themselves, in addition to whakairo [carving] and other art forms.
