How the nature illustrations of a Renaissance polymath reflect his
turbulent age
This pathbreaking and stunningly illustrated book recovers the
intersections between natural history, politics, art, and philosophy in
the late sixteenth-century Low Countries. Insect Artifice explores the
moment when the seismic forces of the Dutch Revolt wreaked havoc on the
region's creative and intellectual community, compelling its members to
seek solace in intimate exchanges of art and knowledge. At its center is
a neglected treasure of the late Renaissance: the Four Elements
manuscripts of Joris Hoefnagel (1542-1600), a learned Netherlandish
merchant, miniaturist, and itinerant draftsman who turned to the study
of nature in this era of political and spiritual upheaval. Presented
here for the first time are more than eighty pages in color facsimile of
Hoefnagel's encyclopedic masterwork, which showcase both the splendor
and eccentricity of its meticulously painted animals, insects, and
botanical specimens.
Marisa Anne Bass unfolds the circumstances that drove the creation of
the Four Elements by delving into Hoefnagel's writings and larger
oeuvre, the works of his friends, and the rich world of classical
learning and empirical inquiry in which he participated. Bass reveals
how Hoefnagel and his colleagues engaged with natural philosophy as a
means to reflect on their experiences of war and exile, and found refuge
from the threats of iconoclasm and inquisition in the manuscript medium
itself. This is a book about how destruction and violence can lead to
cultural renewal, and about the transformation of Netherlandish identity
on the eve of the Dutch Golden Age.
