The Old Print Shop

Plate 82. (Moths and white flowers).

  • ARTIST: Benjamin Wilkes

  • PUBLISHER: Published in London.

  • MEDIUM: Engraving, hand-colored,

    DATE: 1773.

  • EDITION SIZE: Image size 10 x 8" (255 x 200 mm).

  • DESCRIPTION: From Benjamin Wilkes' "One Hundred Twenty Copper-Plates of English Moths and Butterflies." Wilkes was a painter in oils and an enthusiastic amateur entomologist. There is evidence that he colored these engravings himself. Despite its title, this work is really, as De Belder notes, "a great flower book: The plants depicted dominate the composition, and are actually more artistically accomplished than the attending insects." The mixture of the two elements adds to the engraving's charm.

  • ADDITIONAL INFO:

  • CONDITION: Good condition.

  • REFERENCE: De Belder 384, Buchanan, "Nature into Art," 10, 178.