Pieter Withoos

Four butterflies and a bumblebee are artfully arranged on the white expanse of this expensive vellum sheet. Each insect is meticulously depicted, seemingly with scientific accuracy. At a time when collecting natural specimens was a popular pastime for wealthy Europeans, Dutch artists were using the microscope and other technological advances to observe and describe these natural “wonders” with exacting precision. While this drawing suggests the immediacy of scientific illustration, it was primarily executed as a demonstration of the artist’s skill.

This watercolor is remarkable for its intricate detail and trompe-l'oeil ("fool the eye") effect, a trademark of Dutch still-life painting. Withoos's technique, which involved layering on watercolor with a very fine brush, was undoubtedly executed with the aid of a magnifying lens. The use of vellum (a fine parchment made of calf-, lamb-, or kidskin) for this drawing sets it apart from more preliminary sketches, since the precious material was only used for highly finished works. Although his work often takes on a quasi-scientific function, Withoos was first and foremost an artist by training who used insect subjects for a highly aesthetic purpose. Clearly influenced by the style of the Netherlandish miniature tradition, his work is best seen in relation to other 17th-century Dutch artists who combined the roles of artist and natural historian. Among the reasons for the immense popularity of insects as artistic subjects in late 16th-century and early 17th-century Europe was a growing curiosity about the previously unseen natural world, made increasingly visible by the invention and refinement of lens technology and the telescope and microscope. The honeybee is reported to have been the first insect whose parts were illustrated (published 1625) with the assistance of a microscope. The butterfly was a particularly popular subject. Its dramatic metamorphosis symbolized God's infinite power in minute form and provided an almost inexhaustible range of artistic possibilities.