For the final three decades of his life, the self-taught Dutch artist Joris Hoefnagel drew his way through the known natural world, one creature at a time. The result was a multi-volume manuscript, Four Elements, a glorious series of 270 watercolor miniatures that organized nature largely along the lines set out by Aristotle some 1,900 years earlier.
Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art owns a copy (it once belonged to Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor) and it forms a linchpin in the museum’s upcoming exhibition “Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World,” which looks at the vital role of art at the beginning of European natural history in the 16th and 17th centuries.
It’s an inter-Smithsonian collaboration with the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), bringing fur, feather, and flesh to the NGA’s drawings via its taxidermy specimens—think beetles, marmots, and peacocks. Surprisingly, given the two museums’ proximity and overlap, it’s the first such partnership in the Smithsonian’s 175-year history.
Jacob Hoefnagel, after Joris Hoefnagel, Archetypa studiaque patris Georgii Hoefnagelii (1592). Photo: NGA.
The show’s title is taken from the Dutch word beestjes, which connotes fascination with even the smallest of creatures, sparked partly through colonial exploits in the New World. It’s a genre that runs parallel to the Dutch Golden Age preoccupation with still-life painting, partly initiated by Hoefnagel and continued by Jan van Kessel, the 17th-century Antwerp artist.
Beyond demonstrating artistic virtuosity, these intricate renderings—often small enough to require a lens, as will be kindly provided at “Little Beasts”—served as scientific and natural historical references, which in turn inspired future artists. In the upcoming show, NGA seeks to show something of this lineage by including work by Albrecht Dürer, Teodoro Filippo di Liagno, and Wenceslaus Hollar.
“Art and science have been closely aligned,” Kirk Johnson, NMNH’s director said in a statement. “Even today, researchers at the museum depend on scientific illustrators to bring clarity and understanding to the specimens they study.”
“Little Beasts” is divided into three sections. The first centers on Hoefnagel’s Four Elements, an exceptionally rare display given the work’s sensitivity to light. The pages of the books will be turned sporadically during the exhibition’s run.
Jan van Kessel the Elder, Study of Insects and Reptiles (1660). Photo: NGA.
The second looks at the dissemination of period images of the animal world, largely through printmaking. Among others, Hoefnagel’s son, Jacob, published prints of his father’s work that reached a broad audience.
The third section focuses on the aforementioned Kessel and his celebrated paintings, prints, and books. The museum pairs his work with actual specimens from NMNH and allows for visitors to judge the verisimilitude of the artist. One highlight is Sprig of Rosemary (1653) for which the exhibition has created a custom tableau that identifies every insect painted by Kessel.
“Artists have always helped us make sense of the world,” said the NGA’s director Kaywin Feldman. “At ‘Little Beasts,’ delightfully detailed drawings, prints, and paintings invite art lovers of all ages to marvel at these artistic feats and to explore our wondrous word.”
“Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World” will be on view at National Gallery of Art, Washington, Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., from May 18 through November 2, 2025.