Cape Costumes

Notes

This finely observed watercolour by Henry Clifford De Meillon captures a trio of Cape figures, each dressed in distinct attire that reflects the multicultural social fabric of the early 19th-century Cape Colony. De Meillon’s work is prized for its documentary value, offering rare visual insight into the clothing, posture and interpersonal dynamics of the period. With its restrained palette and precise linework, Cape Costumes exemplifies the artist’s sensitive approach to recording local life through a colonial lens, situating it within the broader tradition of ethnographic illustration in southern Africa.