Otto Marseus van Schrieck and the Art of the Butterfly

The Dutch painter and naturalist Otto Marseus van Schrieck (c. 1619/20-1678) became famous for an unusual iconography that mixed 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 ...