Transparent and opaque watercolor and grey wash on paperexpand_more
Proceeds from the Minneapolis Print and Drawing Fair and gifts of funds from Barbara S. Longfellow and Russell Cowlesexpand_more 2019.108.2
This drawing comes from the Age of Enlightenment, a period of heightened scientific study of the natural world. In his youth, Dutch mathematician Nicolaas Struyk took great interest in insects. He collected them on outings with his father, and he had access to formidable collections that we were being assembled in his hometown, the international trading city of Amsterdam. One of the greatest collections belonged to Albertus Seba, a pharmacist who provided medicines to voyagers heading to Indonesia and other far-away places. Attempting to discover materials with pharmaceutical potential, Seba acquired natural history specimens from the sailors who returned. He eventually built an enormous collection that he sold to Russian tsar Peter the Great. Struyk made beautiful illustrations of Seba’s specimens and similar material from other collections, compiling six volumes of drawings by 1719. These marvelous insects may well have come from Indonesia, where the locals would eat them.
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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