Crocuta crocuta (Spotted hyena) Possibly 1777 - 1778

Here we see Robert Jacob Gordon's drawing of a spotted hyena, rendered in delicate lines and subtle washes. The spotted coat, the animal's most striking feature, speaks to a long history of symbolic interpretation. Spots, throughout art history, have signified any number of things – disease, impurity, or even a kind of disruptive otherness. Think of medieval depictions of lepers marked by spots, or the symbolic use of spots to denote chaos. The hyena itself is a figure freighted with cultural baggage. In many traditions, the hyena is a symbol of scavenging, cunning, and even death. Yet, these interpretations are not fixed; they evolve, they shift, they transform. Consider how the hyena's image shifts when viewed through the lens of ecological understanding. A creature vital to its ecosystem. Ultimately, this image, like any symbol, is not a fixed point but rather a node in a vast web of cultural memory, constantly shifting, constantly reforming.