Bloemen, insecten, een kikker en een dode muis 1594

This print of flowers, insects, a frog and a dead mouse was made by Nicolaes de Bruyn. De Bruyn was working in the Netherlands during its Golden Age, a time of immense economic and cultural growth for the Dutch Republic. Prints like this, teeming with depictions of natural life, gained popularity as the Dutch middle class expanded and developed a taste for secular art. While wealthy elites purchased expensive paintings, the middle class could afford more modest prints to decorate their homes. These prints reflected a growing interest in scientific observation and the natural world, mirroring the era’s burgeoning scientific revolution. The level of detail, capturing every vein on a leaf and hair on the dead mouse, speaks to the engraver’s skill and the culture’s valuing of close observation. Art historians draw on a wide range of period resources, from household inventories to scientific treatises, to understand the social and intellectual milieus that gave rise to these images.