Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9447
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Male gnat
Date
1665
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
After
Robert Hooke (1635 - 1703, British) , Natural Philosopher
Object type
Library reference
RCN 45230
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 304mm
width (print): 176mm
width (print): 176mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Microscopic study of an unidentified species of gnat, providing a sectional view of its head, eyes, antenna, fore, mid and hind legs, thorax, wings, and abdomen.
Inscribed above: ‘Schem XXVIII’
Written in the associated text: ‘This small head, with its appurtenances, is fastened on by a short neck, G, to the middle of the thorax, which is large, and seems cased with a strong black shell, HIK, out of the under part of which, issue six long and slender legs’
Plate 28 from Robert Hooke’s Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon (1665), the first fully-illustrated book on the topic of microscopy. In the preface Hooke asserts that he had discovered ‘a new visible World’.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) British natural philosopher was a founding member of the Royal Society, elected in 1663. Before his career with the Royal Society, Hooke had been apprenticed to painter Peter Lely (1618-1680), where he learned to draw and paint. Though he did not engrave the images in Micrographia himself they were engraved after his illustrations.
Inscribed above: ‘Schem XXVIII’
Written in the associated text: ‘This small head, with its appurtenances, is fastened on by a short neck, G, to the middle of the thorax, which is large, and seems cased with a strong black shell, HIK, out of the under part of which, issue six long and slender legs’
Plate 28 from Robert Hooke’s Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon (1665), the first fully-illustrated book on the topic of microscopy. In the preface Hooke asserts that he had discovered ‘a new visible World’.
Robert Hooke (1635-1703) British natural philosopher was a founding member of the Royal Society, elected in 1663. Before his career with the Royal Society, Hooke had been apprenticed to painter Peter Lely (1618-1680), where he learned to draw and paint. Though he did not engrave the images in Micrographia himself they were engraved after his illustrations.
Associated place