Archetypal Nature

At first blush, Jacob Hoefnagel's book of fifty two engravings of insects, flowers and small animals from 1592 is anything but archetypal in its depiction of nature. The highly contrived arrangements are at times more like the scene of an infestation following a wedding banquet than an accurate portrayal of natural history specimens.

But for the era in which they were published, Hoefnagel's depictions were - for those plants and animals not simply imagined or embellished - an important step towards the recording of flora and fauna in proper perspective and as a fair representation of reality. The book proved influential for still life artists in the 17th century and indeed, Maria Sybilla Merian (from the other day) is thought to have 'borrowed' the stag beetle illustration seen above for one of her exceptional watercolour sketches.

This suite of Hoefnagel engravings was published by Christoph Weigel in Frankfurt and is based on the paintings of Jacob's father, Joris (Georg) Hoefnagel, a renowned Flemish manuscript illuminator. The final image above - 'Allegory of Winter' (1589) from Le Louvre - is one of the original Joris Hoefnagel works which gave rise to the engraved series.

The plates are accompanied by didactic biblical, classical and contemporary humanist epigrams and mottoes - connecting the series to the emblemata genre* - and there is said to be religious symbolism attached to the way in which some of the individual elements are organised in the illustrations.

It seems fairly obvious that at least some of the engraved plates above have been cut out and remounted. Some of the marginal handwriting noting species name and the like can be seen to disappear under the border of the illustrations at times.

The full title of the work is: 'Archetypa studiaque patris Georgii Hoefnagelii Jacobus F. genio duce ab ipso scalpta omnibus philomusis amice D. ac perbenigne communicat'
[roughly: Archetype and verses by G Hoefnagel, his father, are presented, engraved in copper under the guidance of his genius and communicated in friendship to all lovers of the Muses by his son Jacob]

• 'Archetypa Studiaque Patris' (1592) by Jacob Hoefnagel was posted online this week by the Universities of Strasbourg Digital Library [link UPDATED April 2013] {click 'See digitalized document' and then click the folder icon at top left on the page that loads to see thumbnail images}
• This post at Giornale Nuovo is highly recommended and features a selection of images - mostly different to those above - from a modern reprint of the work. Mr H has provided background commentary on the artists which I have not sought to repeat here. Although some of the links are broken (a couple are below), the links in the last paragraph are definitely worth following.
• The Internet Archive version of this page provides some analysis of 'Archetypa Studiaque Patris'.
• Updated link to the Joris Hoefnagel biography at the Getty Museum - note the images in the margin.
• A couple of used 1994 reprints are available at Amazon.