Flamingoes on a Lake, Venezuela

Goering accompanied Herman Burmeister, a naturalist and director of the Halle Zoological Museum, on his first expedition to South America in 1856, visiting Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. He returned to Germany in 1858 and later studied under the London animal painter Joseph Wolf. He was commissioned by the British Museum to pursue his ornithological studies in South America and travelled to Venezuela in 1866 where he remained for eight years, exploring little-known parts of the country in the footsteps of Humboldt. On his return he wrote an account of his visit (Vom tropischen Tieflande zum ewigen Schnee. Eine malerische Schilderung des schönsten tropenlandes Venezuela, Leipzig, 1890) illustrated with plates from his sketches.