# Still Life with Flowers, a Snail and Insects

**Joris Hoefnagel** (Netherlandish, 1542–1600)  
1589  
Watercolor, gouache, and shell gold on vellum  
Sheet: 4 5/8 x 3 11/16 in. (11.7 x 9.3 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008.110. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/382608).

## About this work

A spray of flowers is laid out on the vellum alongside a snail, butterflies and other insects, each painted with microscopic care in watercolour and gouache and touched with shell gold, powdered gold bound in gum. Joris Hoefnagel, a Flemish miniaturist who worked for the dukes of Bavaria and later for Emperor Rudolf II, was among the first artists to treat natural specimens as subjects in their own right, blending scientific curiosity with the jewel-like finish of manuscript illumination. Such sheets were prized in the collections of princes.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Joris Hoefnagel painted this in 1589, aged 47. It is now at The Met in New York.

### How it was made

- **Opaque watercolour.** Watercolour made opaque with white or chalk and laid in flat, even layers. Persian and Indian painters ground their colours from minerals, applied them with the finest brushes and burnished the finished page.
- **Watercolour.** Pigment in gum arabic, thinned with water and laid in transparent washes. Nothing white is painted: the light is the paper showing through.

### [Joris Hoefnagel](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/joris-hoefnagel)

Netherlandish, 1542–1600; born in Antwerp; died in Vienna

Hoefnagel, the son of an Antwerp diamond merchant, travelled widely through Europe, making topographical drawings that were engraved for the city atlas Civitates orbis terrarum. He became court miniaturist first to Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria and later to Emperor Rudolf II. His meticulous watercolours of insects, flowers and animals on vellum, made with scientific precision, mark an early high point of natural history illustration and anticipate the Netherlandish flower still life.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Drawings
- The artist was 47
- Real size: about 4½ × 3½ in (12 × 9 cm). The original is small: even the 8 × 10 in print shows it larger than life.
- Century: 16th century
- Subjects: Insects, Butterflies, Snails, Flowers, Still Life
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1052.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1052/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/still-life-with-flowers-a-snail-and-insects-met-382608).