Otto Marseus van Schrieck: Still-Life with Insects and Amphibians (1662)

(Herzog-Anton-Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig, Germany)

A painting by the Dutch artist Otto Marseus van Schrieck (1614/20-1678). This still-life is called a ' sottobosco' (after the Italian for “undergrowth”) a forest still life. The paintings of van Schrieck are usually very dark with plants at the top and all kind of animals at the bottom. Shown on this painting are mushrooms, snakes, a large toad, butterflies, insects, snails, a tulip etc. Van Schrieck had a pond behind his house in which he cultivated all kind of critters and plants which he studied and used in his paintings. Painting from 1662.