New: Artnap New Tab for Chrome. A museum painting in every new tab. Add to Chrome

Robert Jacob Gordon

149 works

Featured

Watercolor drawing of a hairy brown crab viewed from above, centered on a cream sheet with a double ruled border.

Crab (probably of the Potamon genus)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a grey baboon chained to a wooden post on a striped ground, with handwritten Dutch notes.

Papio ursinus (Chacma baboon)

1777

Pen and watercolor sheet showing grasshoppers, beetles and small chafers arranged across a pale ground.

Beetles, chafers and grasshoppers (to be identified)

1777

Watercolor drawing of two grasshoppers and a beetle on sandy ground with shrubs, with handwritten Dutch notes above.

Two beetles and a praying mantis (to be identified)

1777

Watercolor drawing of two grasshoppers and beetles on sandy ground with shrubs, bare trees and clouds behind.

Beetles and Grasshopers (to be identified)

1777

Watercolour drawing of a seated baboon eating, with rocks, a tree and hills in a muted landscape.

Papio ursinus (Chacma baboon)

1773

Watercolor drawing of two vervet monkeys eating beside a tree on sandy ground, with a Dutch handwritten caption below.

Chlorocebus pygerythrus (Vervet monkey)

1777

Hand-colored drawing of a black-backed jackal standing on a green mound, with measurements and Dutch text.

Canis mesomelas (Black-backed jackal; male)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a black-backed jackal standing on grass beside a measuring scale, dated 1773.

Canis mesomelas (Black-backed jackal)

1773

Watercolour drawing of a bat-eared fox standing on grass, with Dutch handwritten notes and a scale bar around it.

Otocyon megalotis (Bat-eared fox; female)

1777

Hand-colored drawing of two spotted African wild dogs standing on grass beside a rock and tree stump, with Dutch text below.

Lycaon pictus (African wild dog)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a bat-eared fox with large ears and a bushy tail on green grass, with handwritten notes.

Otocyon megalotis (Bat-eared fox)

1773

Rear view of a spotted hyena in watercolor and ink with handwritten Dutch annotations above and below, dated 1777.

Crocuta crocuta (Spotted hyena)

1777

Watercolour drawing of a tall waterfall falling into a round blue pool among rocky hills and green trees.

Waterfall at Drakenstein at the source of the Great Berg River

1777

Hunters shooting hippopotamuses in a river, with wagons and tents on the right and flat-topped mountains in the distance.

Hippopotamus hunt at the Seekoei River

1778

Drawing of a standing woman with beaded necklaces, bangles and a child on her back, on a grassy ground line.

A Xhosa (possibly Gonaqua) chieftan’s wife with an infant on her back

1777

Watercolor drawing of a long-tailed sugarbird perched on a tree stump with grasses and flowering shrubs below.

Promerops cafer (Cape sugarbird)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a hoopoe with raised crest and curved bill perched on a lichen-covered branch.

Upupa africana (Hoopoe)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a black bird with yellow shoulder patches perched on a branch with green foliage.

Euplectes capensis (Yellow bishop)

1777

Hand-coloured drawing of a male green sunbird with red and blue breast and a grey female on a branch.

Nectarinia afra (Greater double-collared sunbird)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a ground woodpecker with red breast and speckled grey plumage perched on a branch.

Geocolaptes olivaceus (Ground woodpecker)

1778

Pencil and watercolor drawing of a pin-tailed whydah on a branch with a locust on rocks below, with handwritten notes.

Vidua macroura (Pin-tailed whydah) and locust

1778

Watercolor drawing of a red and black bishop bird perched on a branch beside grass, with handwritten caption below.

Euplectes orix (Southern red bishop)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a grey crested bird with a long tail and red feet perched on a pine branch, with handwritten notes belo

Colius striatus ? (Speckled mousebird)

1777

Pencil sketch of a woven bird nest among grass stalks, with a small egg drawn at lower right and handwritten labels.

Euplectes orix (Southern red bishop), nest

1777

Watercolor drawing of a crested grey bird with a long tail perched on a branch among green leaves.

Colius colius ? (White-backed mousebird)

1777

Hand-colored drawing of a green Narina trogon with red underparts and long tail perched on a gnarled branch.

Apaloderma narina (Narina trogon)

1777

Watercolor of a green crested turaco with red wing feathers perched on a rock beside a blue shrub.

Tauraco corythaix (Knysna turaco or Knysna lourie)

1777

Watercolor drawing of a rosy-faced lovebird with green body and blue tail perched on a grey branch, 1777.

Agapornis roseicollis (Rosy-faced lovebird)

1777

Hand-coloured drawing of a black crested Jacobin cuckoo with long tail perched on a rock beside a shrub.

Clamator jacobinus (Jacobin cuckoo)

1777

Hand-drawn 18th-century nautical chart of Hout Bay with depth soundings, coastline wash and a small ship.

Map of Hout Bay

1780

Hand-drawn 1780 map of False Bay and the Cape Peninsula with coastline, mountains, rivers, compass rose and handwritten notes

Map of False Bay and the Cape Peninsula

1780