 Historian Leslie H. Neatby wrote “Back had neither the seriousness of disposition nor the intensity of purpose which are indispensable to the great captain.His virtues were of a different order.No other man has viewed the scenery of the Canadian North with so appreciative an eye, nor has been able to give such full and vigorous expression to that appreciation.”

A watercolour of an iceberg, believed to have been painted by Back following his 1836–37 expedition, sold at auction on 13 September 2011 for $59,600, despite its being unsigned and undated.