Giraffa camelopardalis (Giraffe), skeleton Possibly 1779

This is Robert Jacob Gordon’s drawing of a Giraffe skeleton. Gordon was a Dutch explorer, military officer, and naturalist active in the Cape Colony during the late 18th century. Gordon's work is a complex intersection of scientific exploration and colonial power. As an agent of the Dutch East India Company, his explorations were fundamentally linked to resource extraction and territorial expansion, impacting the lives and lands of indigenous populations. The giraffe skeleton offers an opportunity to consider the historical context of scientific illustration and its relationship to colonial enterprises. Gordon’s naturalistic drawings are also infused with the power dynamics of encountering, classifying, and representing the natural world, a practice that both celebrated and exploited the African continent. Think about how this objective scientific gaze has affected the way we perceive the world. What does it mean to look at this and other work of naturalists from the colonial era?