A Grasshopper and a Bee

Anonymous, Dutch, 17th century

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This Dutch drawing, likely made in the seventeenth century, illustrates a new interest in observing and documenting insects, which were deemed unworthy of serious study in previous periods. The shadows cast by these organisms express realism, though the illusion is complicated by the insects’ varied positions: the bee was captured from above, while the grasshopper is seen from the side.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art