Plate 77: Dotted Bee Fly with a White Flower, a Mayfly, a Blue Weevil, and Other Insects
1594
gouache
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1594
gouache
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
This tiny painting shows a bumblebee, a fly, a weevil, and a few other bugs perched on white petals. The bugs look real enough to touch. Gold leaf dots mark the bee’s wings and the fly’s body. Joris Hoefnagel painted this in the 1500s—centuries before cameras. He used watercolor washes layered to show each insect’s texture. Try looking up Albrecht Dürer’s bug studies next.
