Video

He Painted Bugs Like Jewels — And Changed Science

A detailed watercolor drawing of a stag beetle encircled in a gold halo

7min watch

When you see a bug crawling around, do you ever stop to look at it? Like, really look at it? Do you notice how the light shines off its back, or how its wings catch the sun? In this video, Nerdwriter and the National Gallery of Art put the work of 16th-century artist Joris Hoefnagel under a magnifying glass. He did look at bugs that closely, and his depictions of insects and other little beasts fused art and science in groundbreaking ways. At a time when bugs were mostly feared or ignored, Hoefnagel's exquisite paintings and drawings invited wonder, and helped change the course of scientific illustration.

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