This royal portrait and cape convey the power of the Hawaiian monarchy and the tensions around the momentous historical events of 1898.
William F. Cogswell, Queen Lili’uokalani, 1891, oil on canvas, 243.8 x 182.9 cm (Hawai‘i State Archives, Honolulu) and Maria Kealaulaokalani Lane Ena, ʻAhu ʻula (The Kalākaua Cape), late 19th century, red ʻiʻiwi feathers, yellow and black ʻōʻō feathers, and olonā fiber, 76.2 x 193 cm (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.). Speakers: Dr. Kate Clarke Lemay, Historian, National Portrait Gallery, and Dr. Beth Harris in the exhibition “1898: U.S. Imperial Visions and Revisions” at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
