Elephant depicts an adult elephant standing prominently in the foreground, flanked by a smaller elephant set further back in the landscape. The figures are positioned on open ground beneath a pale sky, with distant forms suggesting a broad savannah setting. The foreground elephant is rendered frontally, its ears extended and trunk lowered, while the secondary figure establishes depth. David Shepherd constructs the forms using thickly applied oil paint in greys and warm earth tones, with visible texture across the animals and ground. Elephant was painted in relation to Shepherd’s extensive travels across East and Southern Africa in the later twentieth century. Elephants remained a central subject throughout Shepherd’s career, reflecting sustained observation during conservation-focused expeditions and advocacy work.