The co-ordinates given are for the main entrance to the
Natural History Museum in Kensington, London. The statue is in the Central area
in the museum's Green Zone. Non-flash photography is permitted. The museum is
free to visit.
The marble statue is of the naturalist Joseph Banks, seated
and dressed in cravat, frock coat, sash and waistcoat, with Latin inscription on
plinth. The figure is around life-size and, as mentioned, shows Banks seated.
His right hand is resting on his right leg and his left hand is resting in his
lap and is holding a rolled up document.
The Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria Australian
National Herbarium website (visit link)
carries a brief biography of Banks:
"Joseph Banks was born in 1743, the only son of a
wealthy land-owning family. From an early age, his declared passion was natural
history, and in particular, botany. Shortly after inheriting his family's
fortune in the early 1760's he chose to pursue this passion to the full. In 1766
he travelled to Newfoundland and Labrador to collect plants, animals and rocks
and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in the same year.
When the Royal Society was successful in initiating
Captain Cook's 1768 expedition to Tahiti for astronomical observations, Banks
obtained permission from the Admiralty to join the venture. For him, this was
like a present-day scientist being given the chance of a trip to another planet,
a chance to study new plants in unknown lands.
They made collections and observations in South America,
Tahiti and New Zealand before reaching Australia. His major landfalls on the
eastern coast of Australia were at Botany Bay (28 April - 5 May 1770) and at the
Endeavour River (17 June - 3 August). By now the
'collection of plants was . . . grown
so immensely large that it was necessary that some extraordinary care should be
taken of them least they should spoil . . .'
The plant material collected and sorted on the voyage
was extensive, with the herbarium specimens accounting for about 110 new genera
and 1300 new species.
After his triumphant return from this voyage, Banks
travelled to Scotland, Wales, Holland and Iceland, collecting more and more
'curiosities'. Among a host of other activities, including the running of his
estates, he controlled the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and was a Trustee of the
British Museum. In 1778 he also became President of the Royal Society, an office
which he held until his death in 1820. He was knighted in 1781.
Although Linneaus' suggestion of naming the new country
'Banksia' was not adopted, Bank's name was bestowed upon a genus of Australian
plants and he made his mark upon Australian history in other ways. When the
British government was casting about for a suitable place to establish a penal
colony, Banks was an advocate for Botany Bay. After the settlement was
established at Sydney Cove, he encouraged further investigation of the natural
history of the area and became the acknowledged authority on matters relating to
New South Wales. His impact on the study of natural history in both Britain and
Australia cannot be overestimated."