1594
gouache
vellum
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Plate 66: Two Oil Beetles, a Longhorn Beetle, and Four Other Insects is a 1594 gouache by Joris Hoefnagel, a Renaissance work, depicting Insect, held at National Gallery of Art.
This watercolor shows six bugs on white paper. Two big oil beetles sit front and center. A longhorn beetle stretches beside them. Three smaller insects crowd nearby. Hoefnagel added gold paint outlines. These lines make the bugs pop against the plain background. He worked in the 1570s, before zoom lenses or cameras. Look closer at the longhorn’s antennae. See how thin they are? These details prove art beat science then. Check out Hoefnagel, Joris next.
Joris Hoefnagel or Georg Hoefnagel (1542 – 24 July 1601) was a Flemish painter, printmaker, miniaturist, draftsman and merchant.
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