1594
gouache
vellum
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Plate 13: Yellow Swallowtail and Red Admiral Butterflies with a Dragonfly (Broad-Bodied Chaser?) is a 1594 gouache by Joris Hoefnagel, a Renaissance work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This painting shows three insects pinned to a light background. Two butterflies sit side by side—one with dark blue and red wings, the other with black and white stripes. A dragonfly with see-through wings hangs below them. The whole scene is circled in gold paint. The artist used thin layers of color to make the wings look almost real. The gold border adds a fancy touch. Try looking up watercolor, glazing to see how this technique works.
Joris Hoefnagel or Georg Hoefnagel (1542 – 24 July 1601) was a Flemish painter, printmaker, miniaturist, draftsman and merchant.
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