Fly Drawing

When I first saw this insect drawing, I thought it was a bee with the black and yellowish bands around its body. But, it is actually a type of hover fly, the book identified as Sericomyia Lapponum. Like bees, they mainly feed on nectar and pollen. But, while they may look like bees, they do not sting and are considered harmless.

The Entomology book this fly drawing appeared in was published in 1828. One would have to assume that this image was hand water colored based on that publication date.

I often gaze in wonder at some of the magnificent illustrations that are essentially miniature works of art with sometimes hundreds of original paintings. I have read where many publishing firms hired dozens of woman artists to duplicate the images. The amount of colors used, the level of detail and the careful application of the colors would vary between editions and the price of each book. This book had only two color plates, but, as you can see each individual insect was done with great attention to detail.

This fly drawing shows a hover fly species with the black strips on its torso in which the first two rows are slightly connected to each other. The body is primarily black and yellow-orange. The legs are a slightly darker shade of orange. The wings look as if they might be nearly transparent in real life.

I think this painted fly drawing would look wonderful paired with one of the many similarly painted flower images – you can find some flower images here on Free Vintage Art as well as on Reusable Art.