Jacob Hoefnagel
Encyclopedia
Jacob Hoefnagel also Jacobus, was a Dutch
artist
and naturalist
noted for his early illustrations of natural history
subjects.
His Diversae Insectarum Volatium icones ad vivum accuratissimè depictae per celeberrimum pictorem, published by Nicolao Ioannis Visscher in Amsterdam
in 1630 is one of the earliest works dealing exclusively with insects.
Jacob Hoefnagel was the son of Georg Hoefnagel (1545-1600), an Antwerp artist employed by the dukes of Bavaria
who undertook illustrations of plant and animal specimens in the cabinet of Emperor Rudolph II
, at Prague
. Jacob engraved copies of his father's paintings which he described as "A pattern or copy-book for artists, displaying on sixteen plates about 340 insects, mostly larger than life".
A single convex lens was used in the preparation of some of the drawings for this book,
So far as known, the pictures of Hoefnagel are the earliest printed figures of magnified objects(Locy, The Story of Biology, p. 199). The 16 beautiful engravings depict 302 insects, in order 37 Coleoptera, 22 Orthoptera
, 14 Odonata
, 16 Neuroptera
, 72 Lepidoptera
, 35 Hymenoptera
, 78 Diptera
, 21 Hemiptera
, and 7 larvae; from central- and north Germany.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
noted for his early illustrations of natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
subjects.
His Diversae Insectarum Volatium icones ad vivum accuratissimè depictae per celeberrimum pictorem, published by Nicolao Ioannis Visscher in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
in 1630 is one of the earliest works dealing exclusively with insects.
Jacob Hoefnagel was the son of Georg Hoefnagel (1545-1600), an Antwerp artist employed by the dukes of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
who undertook illustrations of plant and animal specimens in the cabinet of Emperor Rudolph II
Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
Rudolf II was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Hungary and Croatia , King of Bohemia and Archduke of Austria...
, at Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
. Jacob engraved copies of his father's paintings which he described as "A pattern or copy-book for artists, displaying on sixteen plates about 340 insects, mostly larger than life".
A single convex lens was used in the preparation of some of the drawings for this book,
So far as known, the pictures of Hoefnagel are the earliest printed figures of magnified objects(Locy, The Story of Biology, p. 199). The 16 beautiful engravings depict 302 insects, in order 37 Coleoptera, 22 Orthoptera
Orthoptera
Orthoptera is an order of insects with paurometabolous or incomplete metamorphosis, including the grasshoppers, crickets and locusts.Many insects in this order produce sound by rubbing their wings against each other or their legs, the wings or legs containing rows of corrugated bumps...
, 14 Odonata
Odonata
Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole...
, 16 Neuroptera
Neuroptera
The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order contains some 6,010 species...
, 72 Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...
, 35 Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is one of the largest orders of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees and ants. There are over 130,000 recognized species, with many more remaining to be described. The name refers to the heavy wings of the insects, and is derived from the Ancient Greek ὑμήν : membrane and...
, 78 Diptera
Diptera
Diptera , or true flies, is the order of insects possessing only a single pair of wings on the mesothorax; the metathorax bears a pair of drumstick like structures called the halteres, the remnants of the hind wings. It is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species, although under half...
, 21 Hemiptera
Hemiptera
Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs , comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others...
, and 7 larvae; from central- and north Germany.
External links
Source
- Gilbert, P. 2000: Butterfly Collectors and Painters. Four centuries of colour plates from The Library Collections of The Natural History Museum, London. Singapore, Beaumont Publishing Pte Ltd; x, 166 p.