Founders' Portraits
In 1889, Charles Reed Bishop founded the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in honor of his wife, five years after her death. Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop was the great granddaughter of Kamehameha I and inherited numerous cultural treasures from this lineage. Princess Pauahi's collection, along with those of Princess Ruth Ke'elikolani and Queen Emma, form the foundational collections of Bishop Museum.
Charles Reed Bishop, with support from the ruling families, devoted his time and personal funds to ensure that his wife's cultural heritage were well-cared for. In doing so, Charles not only honored his wife, but also the people, culture, and history of the Pacific.
In memory of Pauahi, Museum trustee Samuel Mills Damon commissioned Federigo de Madrazo y Kuntz, the most sought-after Spanish artist of his time, to paint this portrait of her, based on a photograph. It was completed in 1887 and brought to Hawai'i, where it was displayed in the Museum's Picture Gallery after its opening in 1891. Alongside this portrait was that of her husband, Charles, painted by the American portrait artist William F. Cogswell. Since the late 1890s, these portraits of Bishop Museum's founders have hung in their current location in the entry stairway.