Flemish Rose (Mira Botanica) Canvas Bag

The art of still life painting is a celebrated part of Dutch culture. However, before the emergence of still life, there were illustrators who delicately illuminated handwritten manuscripts with images of flora and fauna to add emotional power to a written work.

One of the most celebrated practitioners of this style was Joris Hoefnagel (1542–1601). In the 1590s, Emperor Rudolf II commissioned Hoefnagel to add his illuminations to the Mira calligraphiae monumenta, a mid-16th-century manuscript on the art of calligraphy by Georg Bocskay.

The page reproduced here is known as Wainscot, French Rose, Wasplike Insect, English Daisy and Caterpillar.