In the earlier years of the British Empire artists were employed to document the landscapes the British explored. James B. Fraser worked for the East India Trading Company and later the British Government to produce accurate images of the landscapes, people, and wildlife encountered in India and Sri Lanka. Samuel Daniell was an artist for a British government-commissioned expedition to South Africa in 1801, led by P. J. Truter and William Somerville. The images of people from explorations such as these would play a role in developing racist stereotypes. Artists like Fraser and Daniell were encouraged to classify different communities, often to prove pre-formed pseudoscientific notions of ‘development’ and eugenics. These racist ideologies were used to justify many of the brutal acts carried out by European countries. The artists’ paintings and sketches formed the basis for popular prints, which would be bought and seen by a wide audience, and could be reprinted for many years.

Image: 2003/147/004 Gericht van Kaap Der Goede Hope (View of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa) by François Valentijn, 1726