Insects and colors between art and natural history

Abstract

"This book explores how European naturalists and artists perceived, investigated, and presented the relationship between insects and colors from the late sixteenth to the late eighteenth century. The contributors to this volume examine the creative methods and strategies that were developed to record color-related information about insects through studies on Hoefnagel's glazed metal and hand-coloring practices; the lepidochromy technique used in paintings by Marseus van Schriek and later naturalists; the representation of sexual dimorphism of color and variable color of caterpillars in the images of Goedaert, Merian, Albin, and Rösel von Rosenhof; the painting-by-numbers technique applied to Schäffer's bookplates on Regensburg insects; Schiffermüller's watercolor originals of caterpillars; and finally, the color fading of exotic cabinet specimens and how this issue was tackled by Abbot and Smith. The volume is lavishly illustrated with rare and unpublished images and offers new insights into the interrelation between natural history and visual practices concerning the color of insects, with a special focus on butterflies and moths. Contributors are Harald Bruckner, Kay Etheridge, Beth Fowkes Tobin, Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel, Karin Leonhard, V.E. Mandrij, Kimberly Schenck, Stacey Sell, Giulia Simonini, and Friedrich Steinle."-- Provided by vendor.

Contents

Acknowledgements -- List of Figures -- List of Contributors -- Preface -- Introduction -- V.E. Mandrij and Giulia Simonini -- Insect Color in Joris Hoefnagel's Ignis -- Kimberly Schenck and Stacey Sell -- "More True to Nature than Paintings": Lepidochromy and the Color of Butterflies -- V.E. Mandrij -- The Biology of Color in Insects -- Kay Etheridge -- Painting by Numbers and Insect Illustrations in the Eighteenth Century: Jacob Christian Schäffer and Stephan Loibel -- Giulia Simonini -- The Colors of Lepidopterans: Ignaz Schiffermüller's Caterpillar Watercolors and Their Iconographic Impact -- Stefanie Jovanovic-Kruspel and Harald Bruckner -- Color, Taxonomy, and Exotic Insect Specimens -- Beth Fowkes Tobin -- Index.