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I vividly remember the moment in childhood when a ladybird crawled onto my palm and then spread its wings wide and vanished. I became enchanted by the natural world and all creatures great and small.

It is with a heavy heart I read the report this year that revealed the fact that rapidly declining insect numbers are causing the 'catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems' – more than 40 per cent of insect species are declining and a third are endangered. Then earlier this month the release of the results of a major UN global assessment report revealed that 1 million species are at risk of extinction and due to such declining biodiversity, upon which we depend for our existence, human society itself is under threat.

April, Butterflies

April, Butterflies 1955

Tristram Paul Hillier (1905–1983)

Nature in Art

Looking through the astonishing array of artwork depicting insects on Art UK shows how human beings have spent time appreciating these tiny creatures, and it is a reminder to celebrate and respect them. Ladybirds, moths and bees flutter through the archive: woodlice, beetles and spiders galore scuttle through paintings. Inspecting these paintings of insects (and other creepy-crawlies) is a timely reminder of how valuable they are. Insects make up the majority of creatures that live on land, and provide crucial benefits to many other species, including humans. They provide food for birds, bats and small mammals, and they pollinate around 75 per cent of the crops in the world by replenishing soils.

Ladybird

Ladybird

Thrussells

Chelmsford Museums

I was reminded of my early fascination with ladybirds by looking at Ladybird by Gary Thrussell (b.1958) held at Chelmsford Museum Store. Stripped of colour it powerfully hints at the loss and vanishing happening in our natural world.

Insect Dissection

Insect Dissection

Martin Wells (1928–2009)

Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Human beings' hunger to know more about the insect world is well captured as paintings show not only the outside but inside of creatures, as in Insect Dissection by Martin Wells (1928–2009) which is housed in the Department of Zoology at the University of Cambridge.

This painting acts as both magnifying glass and x-ray, showing how intricate and complex the tiniest of creatures are, and the myriad of processes that go into keeping them alive.

The Secret Language of Insects

The Secret Language of Insects

Dominic Shepherd (b.1966)

Towner

By contrast, there are also paintings that maintain the mystery of the natural world, those things we might never know, such as The Secret Language of Insects by Dominic Shepherd (b.1966).

Leaf-Insects and Stick-Insects

Leaf-Insects and Stick-Insects 1870s

Marianne North (1830–1890)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Paintings powerfully show insects in the context of the landscape they inhabit and worthy of note in this respect is the wonderful work of the Victorian botanical artist and biologist Marianne North – to name but a few of her artworks, there is Leaf-Insects and Stick-Insects housed at her gallery in at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, the Marianne North Gallery.

Leaf Insect

Leaf Insect 1876

Marianne North (1830–1890)

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Meanwhile, Leaf Insect brilliantly shows the blending of insect and leaf such that they have become one and the same.

Green Grasshopper

Green Grasshopper c.1964

Yvonne Rosalind Barlow (1924–2017)

Rugby Art Gallery and Museum Art Collections

In showing insects in their landscape I also found striking the painting Green Grasshopper by Yvonne Rosalind Barlow (1924–2017) which uses various shades of green to great effect.

A Dragon-fly, two Moths, a Spider and some Beetles, with wild Strawberries

A Dragon-fly, two Moths, a Spider and some Beetles, with wild Strawberries early 1650s

Jan van Kessel the elder (1626–1679)

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Wonderfully drawn out in artworks is the web of connection in the natural world. The food cycle is fascinating to observe, for example. In A Dragon-fly, two Moths, a Spider and some Beetles, with wild Strawberries, a magnificent dragonfly feasts upon a strawberry.

Fruit and Insects

Fruit and Insects 1675–1725

Abraham Mignon (1640–c.1679) (after)

Cannon Hall

Insects feeding on fruit are also depicted in Fruit and Insects after Abraham Mignon (1640–1649).

Untitled

Untitled after 1968

Mandu Mmatambwe Adeusi (c.1914–c.1984)

Argyll and Bute Council

Meanwhile, in an untitled artwork by Mandu Mmatambwe Adeusi at the Argyll and Bute Council collection we see a bird about to eat a fly, all while a snake has one of the bird's eggs in its mouth.

A Golden-Winged Flycatcher Catching an Insect

A Golden-Winged Flycatcher Catching an Insect 1757

John Coakley Lettsom (1744–1815)

Wellcome Collection

While insects are the empowered centrepiece in some paintings, in others they are reduced to tininess, and are the ones being consumed, for example in The Golden-Winged Flycatcher Catching an Insect by John Coakley Lettsom (1744–1815), housed at the Wellcome Collection.

Floral Study with Insects in the Foreground

Floral Study with Insects in the Foreground

Andries Danielsz. (c.1580–c.1640) (attributed to)

Norfolk Museums Service

Still Life of Two Jugs with Flowers and Insects

Still Life of Two Jugs with Flowers and Insects 18th C

Jan van Huysum (1682–1749) (style of)

National Trust, Hidcote Manor

Still Life with Fruits, Flowers and Insects

Still Life with Fruits, Flowers and Insects

Philip van Kouwenberg (1671–1729)

National Trust, Stourhead

Some paintings show the ferocity and wildness of the natural world while others are tamer, and in domesticated scenes show insects indoors as in Floral Study with Insects in the Foreground attributed to Andries Danielsz. (c.1580–c.1640) and Still Life of Two Jugs with Flowers and Insects in the style of Jan van Huysum from the eighteenth century, as well as Still Life with Fruits, Flowers and Insects by Philip van Kouwenberg (1621–1729).

Worthy of note too is a series of artworks by an unknown artist held at the Wellcome Collection which strikingly show a varied amount of insects, such as Seven Insects, including Grasshopper, Praying Mantid and Stag Beetle.

Although technically not insects, but arachnids, let's take a quick look at spiders. Often thought of as undesirable, their beauty is brought out in a work such as Ten Spiders, Showing Much Variation in Shape and Colour.

Various Spiders and Caterpillars, with a Sprig of Gooseberry

Various Spiders and Caterpillars, with a Sprig of Gooseberry early 1650s

Jan van Kessel the elder (1626–1679)

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A Cockchafer, Beetle, Woodlice and other Insects, with a Sprig of Auricula

A Cockchafer, Beetle, Woodlice and other Insects, with a Sprig of Auricula early 1650s

Jan van Kessel the elder (1626–1679)

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

A versatile painter of still life, including many insects, was Jan van Kessel the elder (1626–1679) whose work includes Various Spiders and Caterpillars, with a Sprig of Gooseberry and A Cockchafer, Beetle, Woodlice and Other Insects, with a Sprig of Auricula.

Mosquito Larvae II

Mosquito Larvae II 2001

Michael Kidner (1917–2009)

Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre

Delving into Art UK helps us to appreciate anew how incredible insects are and shows insects in all stages of formation, from barely yet in being to fully formed (Mosquito Larvae II by Michael Kidner housed in the Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, shows in abstract that early stage in the life of insects).

The Ghost of a Flea

The Ghost of a Flea c.1819–20

William Blake (1757–1827)

Tate

How insects have haunted the human imagination is clear in The Ghost of a Flea by William Blake. Far from being regarded simply as pests, art shows us that insects are an important part of our world.

As we face the fact of the extinction crisis, it is haunting to realise that some of these paintings may last longer than the glorious creatures themselves and is an urgent reminder to do what we can to save creatures both great and small, whose lives are threatened, before it is too late.

Anita Sethi, journalist, writer and critic

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