Panorama of Plettenberg Bay, seen from an elevation at the mouth of the Keurbooms River Possibly 1778

Robert Jacob Gordon rendered this expansive panorama of Plettenberg Bay with ink and watercolor. Rather than deploying the traditional oil paints of fine art, Gordon chose humbler materials, and a horizontal format more associated with maps or technical drawings. The layered washes of color give depth to the landscape, but also evoke the labor of rendering such a vast scene. He may have made quick sketches on site, later completing the watercolor, a process demanding precision and patience. Gordon was a military man working for the Dutch East India Company, who would have used such a landscape for practical, colonial purposes. It is work produced in the service of a commercial enterprise. In that light, the image asks us to consider the labor conditions that made the trade routes to Plettenberg Bay possible, and the contrast between the economic imperatives driving the work, and the slower, more considered tempo of its execution. It’s a reminder that even seemingly straightforward images are deeply embedded in their time.