Phalacrocorax capensis (Cape cormorant) Possibly 1777 - 1786

Robert Jacob Gordon made this drawing of a Cape cormorant using pen and ink with watercolour. Its matter-of-fact rendering speaks to the public role of natural history illustration in the late 18th century. Gordon was an officer of the Dutch East India Company, in what is now South Africa. His drawing meticulously records ornithological specimens for the scientific enlightenment of a European audience. The social conditions that shaped the drawing include the Dutch colonial project, which depended on such visual records of resources and life in distant lands. Gordon’s image makes meaning through its close observation and descriptive caption in Dutch. The text tells us this specimen was captured alive in the bay. We can use the archives of the Dutch East India Company, and travel journals from the period to understand more about how the cultures of Europe and Africa met at this time. It reminds us that our understanding of an artwork such as this is always contingent on social and institutional contexts.