John Gabriel Stedman: A Soldier’s Witness to Colonial Horror John Gabriel Stedman (1744 – 7 March 1797) remains a profoundly unsettling figure in the annals of art and history. More than just a Dutch-Scottish military officer, he was an explorer, a chronicler, and, crucially, a witness to the brutal realities of colonial expansion in Suriname. His meticulously detailed ‘Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam’ (1796), accompanied by strikingly graphic engravings, offered a rare – and deeply uncomfortable – glimpse into the mechanics of slavery, military c…