A Dragonfly

4 weeks ago | forbes.com | Jonathon Keats |A Dragonfly

Working as a merchant in 16th century Antwerp, Joris Hoefnagel saw the world through the medium of trade. He encountered luxurious objets d’art crafted with exotic wood and shell. But his eyes were drawn most of all to natural history specimens he considered to be God’s own creations. Over several decades, he rendered them in watercolor on parchment or vellum. He called his collection The Four Elements, associating mammals with earth, birds with air, and fish with water.