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Opium poppy; Vetch and black-veined white butterfly

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues

1568

watercolor

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Early Baroque Italian Renaissance Renaissance Floral

Dominant colour

Opium poppy; Vetch and black-veined white butterfly is a 1568 watercolor by Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, a Early Baroque Italian work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues
When & what style?: 1568 · Early Baroque Italian
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This watercolor shows an opium poppy and vetch with a butterfly. It’s one of 59 botanical pages in an album made around 1575. The artist used fine details to show both sides of one sheet. Le Moyne de Morgues was once seen only as a designer for woodcuts. His later fame comes from these delicate, accurate plant pictures. Check out the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The story of this work

Overview

Recto: an opium poppy is shown in greyish mauve tones, darkening to purple at the base, with a light green seedpod and bud. Verso: a common vetch displays purple flowers with a reddish-purple center, accompanied by a black-veined white butterfly depicted from beneath, its wings grey with black veining and its body and legs grey and black respectively. The drawing is one of 59 botanical watercolours on 34 sheets attributed to Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues, dated around 1575 and bound in a late-16th-century French calf binding. The album was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1856 and…

Read the full account in the museum source.

About the artist

Artist

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues

Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues (French pronunciation: ; c. 1533–1588) was a French artist and member of Jean Ribault's expedition to the New World. His depictions of Native American life and culture, colonial life, and…

See the richer artist page