Otto Marseus van Schrieck and the Art of the Butterfly

V.E. Mandrij

Otto Marseus van Schrieck and the Art of the Butterfly

A Technical Study of Early Modern Lepidochromy

The Dutch painter and naturalist Otto Marseus van Schrieck became famous for an unusual iconography mixing characteristics of landscape, animal painting, natural history illustration, and still life: the sottobosco paintings. These artworks, which he developed during his voyage to Italy around 1650, represent reptiles, amphibians, and insects in dark forests. To increase the realistic representations of lepidopterans, he pressed the wings of dead specimens onto the paintings to transfer their original colours. This technique of printing butterfly wings, named lepidochromy in this book, was already used in the sixteenth century and has been documented as a means to conserve and classify lepidopterans from the eighteenth through twentieth century.

With a strong focus on the techniques and materials involved in making butterfly imprints, this book introduces readers for the first time to the development, uses, and meanings of lepidochromy in the oeuvre of Otto Marseus van Schrieck at the crossroads of art and natural history.
Author

V.E. Mandrij

Dr. V.E. Mandrij (they/them) is a writer and an art historian who studied and worked in Switzerland, Italy (KNIR, NIKI), Belgium (Museum Mayer van den Bergh), the Netherlands (Utrecht University, Vossius Center Amsterdam), and Germany (University of Konstanz). They co-edited Insects and Colors between Art and Natural History (2025) with Giulia Simonini.
Title
Otto Marseus van Schrieck and the Art of the Butterfly
Subtitle
A Technical Study of Early Modern Lepidochromy
Author
Price
€ 171,00 excl. VAT
ISBN
9789048568833
Format
Hardback
Number of pages
387
Language
English
Publication date
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5117/9789048568833
Dimensions
21 x 26 cm
Series
Studies in Early Modernity in The Netherlands
Partner
Categories
Art and Material Cultures
Dutch and The Netherlands
Early Modern Studies
Discipline
History, Art History, and Archaeology
Table of Contents
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INTRODUCTION
PART I | THE LEPIDOCHROMY TECHNIQUE
CHAPTER 1 | SEEING AND MAKING LEPIDOCHROMES
CHAPTER 2 | THE TERMINOLOGIES AND INHERITANCE OF LEPIDOCHROMY
PART II | OTTO MARSEUS VAN SCHRIECK AND THE LEPIDOCHROMY TECHNIQUE IN EARLY MODERN ART THEORIES AND NATURAL HISTORY
CHAPTER 3 | THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LEPIDOCHROMY IN THE SOTTOBOSCHI AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ART THEORIES
CHAPTER 4 | THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN LEPIDOCHROMY IN THE SOTTOBOSCHI AND SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NATURAL HISTORY
CONCLUSION
ANNEX I: TRANSCRIPTIONS OF RECIPES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PLATES (COLOUR)