Six Insects, a Caterpillar, and a Snail, from Diversae Insectorum...Figurae
after 1644
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet, trimmed within platemark: 11.6 × 18.2 cm (4 5/8 × 7 3/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
18645
Art Historical Context
Wenceslaus Hollar, masterful 17th-century Bohemiancher renowned for his meticulous detail, created *Six Insects, a Caterpillar and a Snail* as part of the series *Diversae Insector...Figurae* (Various Figures of Insects), executed after 1644. Hollar, who fled religious turmoil in Prague and settled in England, contributed significantly to the era's burgeoning interest in natural history. This print captures the scientific curiosity of the Baroque period, when artists and scholars like Robert Hooke were magnifying the wonders of the microscopic world, blending art with early entomological study...
About the Artist
Wenceslaus Hollar · 1607–1677
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677) was a prolific Bohemian etcher who became one of the most accomplished printmakers of the seventeenth century. Born in Prague, he trained under Matthäus Merian in Frankfurt before entering the service of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, in 1636. Hollar spent most of his career in England, where he produced approximately 2,740 etchings documenting an extraordinary range...