PLATE LV (SMALL RED BUTTERFLIES AND YELLOW FLOWERS).
Benjamin Wilkes
Artist's BiographyPlate LV (Small red butterflies and yellow flowers).
Engraving, hand-colored, 1773.
Image size 10 x 8" (255 x 20 cm).
Good condition. LOCATION: New York City
Inventory Number: 60824
Price: SOLD Publisher : Published in London. 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. 18th-19th Century Subjects , Natural History , Butterflies & Insects
