Canis mesomelas (Black-backed jackal) 1773 - 1786

This watercolor of a black-backed jackal was created by Robert Jacob Gordon, sometime before his death in 1795. Gordon was a Dutch explorer, soldier, and naturalist of Scottish descent, working for the Dutch East India Company. The image is made with fine brushwork, and you can see Gordon’s patient layering of hues to depict the animal’s coat and musculature. The watercolor medium lends itself well to this kind of delicate observation. The animal is presented not as a fearsome predator, but as an object of scientific interest. This gets to the heart of the artwork’s purpose. Gordon was tasked by the mercantile system that employed him to document the natural resources of the Cape Colony. So, this attractive image also served a clear economic purpose, feeding back into the colonial project. It makes you wonder, what other agendas are at play when we see images of the natural world?