
Read the visual description
This print features insects and plant elements arranged together. A moth with spread wings is on the left, with a flower stem hanging down above it. In the center is a large beetle, and there is another flower stem on the right. A snail with a spiral shell is below the moth on the left side, and a carrot with leaves is on the bottom right, under another beetle or roach. In the bottom center appears to be an apple cut in half, with a fly and a spider nearby. The print uses fine black lines on an off-white background. Some of the plants and creatures seem to cast shadows on the paper behind them. They are all surrounded by a thin rectangular outline, and there are lines of text at the top and bottom of the print.
National Gallery of Art · Print
Archetypa studiaque patris Georgii Hoefnagelii [Part 1, Plate 5]
Jacob Hoefnagel, after Joris Hoefnagel
- Date
- 1592
- Medium
- engraving on laid paper
- Dimensions
- plate: 15.5 × 21 cm (6 1/8 × 8 1/4 in.) sheet: 18.6 × 27.2 cm (7 5/16 × 10 11/16 in.)
- Classification
- Accession number
- 2023.45.1
- Credit line
- Gift of Ellen von Seggern Richter and Jan Paul Richter
- Time span
- 1551 to 1600
- Department
- CG-E
Provenance
(Carolyn Bullard, Dallas); purchased 2006 by Ellen von Seggern Richter and Jan Paul Richter; gift to the NGA, 2023.
Watermarks
eagle with wings spread
NGA object ID 226452. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.