Te Aho o te Rangi Wharepu, a Waikato Warrior,

This picture hangs on our wall.

I have always loved it..................not just because of the wonderfully amazing face that stares out of the canvas and looks directly into your soul, not just because I believe he emanates a real sense of being comfortable in his skin, a rare thing these days, but..........because this picture hung in my Great-Uncle's cabin as he sailed regularly between America and New Zealand.

Our family story is that the subject of the painting was a Maori warrier who worked as a steveador at the docks in Auckland and that my Great-Uncle knew him as 'The Rainmaker'. He was thought to have special powers that could change the weather.
Oh if only he was here today! It's been baltic!!!

When my Great-Uncle died, a few of his treasured belongings made their way from Vancouver, where he lived, across to my Grandmother in Scotland.

I can vividly remember when she offered this picture and the two Maori carvings that accompanied it, to each and every family member, all of whom declined the offer.

All the while I had my fingers crossed that eventually I could give him a home.

And I did! I was delighted!
However, his highly tattooed face scared my young children and their father didn't feel the same way as I did about it so................. the painting ended up in our attic where he remained until recently and I have been reconnected with him again. It was like meeting up with an old friend.
Thank you Derek and Carol.

His name is Te Aho o te Rangi Wharepu, and he was a Waikato Warrior of the Ngati Mahuta Tribe.

He posed regularly for the New Zealand artist C.J. Goldie.

Te Aho lived to be nearly a hundred. During his lifetime he achieved a substantial reputation as a canoe architect and he was also an authority on Maori mythology and history. Goldie painted his first portrait of Te Aho in 1902.