Cleveland Museum of Art

Studies of Insects

Johannes Bronckhorst

Date

c. 1665–1727

Medium

watercolor, opaque watercolor, and gum arabic with brown ink framing lines

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In the 17th century, an interest in flora and fauna, both local and exotic, in the Netherlands led to vast collections of insects, plants, and animals among academics and amateurs. Artists such as Johannes Bronckhorst became specialists at recording these collections in paint, to be kept in portfolios and shown to visitors. The grouping of insects on this sheet suggest that Bronckhorst had access to a varied collection, and include a cicada, a cereal-leaf beetle, a harlequin ladybird, a spiny orb-weaver spider, two Asian longhorn beetles, a red rhinoceros beetle, a rosemary beetle, and a stick insect. With great attention to detail, Bronckhorst may have selected this particular assembly with no other intent than to create a balanced and colorful composition. With an extremely fine brush, the artist used a magnifying glass to draw the minute details of these insects, using watercolor and opaque watercolor, and gum arabic to create sheen.

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