Lot 15: Pieter Holsteyn the Elder , Haarlem circa 1580/90 - 1662 a sheet of studies of butterflies, moths and beetles, including a blue rhinoceros beetle and a grasshopper Gouache and grey wash, with touches of gum arabic, on vellum, within parital black ink

Gouache and grey wash, with touches of gum arabic, on vellum, within parital black ink framing lines; signed in grey ink: PHolsteÿn fecit ; bears two old labels on reverse of frame, inscribed: Penige Europiso [?], Capellen / en Forme X and P:Holsteyn Fecit / 1610

measurements note 177 by 301 mm

Holsteyn made a great speciality of natural history drawings, but almost all his watercolours of this type depict individual birds, mammals and flowers. His extremely rare composite sheets of studies of insects such as this are amongst his most accomplished works. Only two such sheets have been sold in recent times. One, unsigned, was in the Dreesman Collection sale (London, Christie's, 11 April 2002, lot 698). The other, signed and dated 1636, was sold London, Christie's, 6 July 1999, lot 225. The latter included the same fearsome rhinoceros beetle with bright blue shoulders that we see here, but the present work is larger and more elaborate still, depicting a wide range of other visually striking insects. Beautifully composed and superbly preserved, it is one of the most impressive of all the artist's known drawings.