Tricholaema leucomelas (Acacia pied barbet) Possibly 1777 - 1786

Robert Jacob Gordon made this watercolor drawing of a Tricholaema leucomelas, or Acacia pied barbet, near the Orange River. Gordon was a Dutch explorer, military officer, and naturalist of Scottish descent, active in the Cape Colony in the late 18th century. His work gives us a glimpse into the scientific practices during a period of European expansion and colonization. Naturalists like Gordon often participated in the classification and documentation of the flora and fauna of newly ‘discovered’ lands, contributing to the construction of a European understanding of the natural world. Gordon's identity as a man of Scottish and Dutch heritage working for the Dutch East India Company places him in a complex web of colonial power dynamics. His explorations and documentations were part of a broader project of claiming and exploiting resources, impacting the indigenous populations and ecologies of the regions he traversed.