Javaanse sprinkhaan Possibly 1783 - 1784

Jan Brandes made this image of a ‘Javaanse sprinkhaan’ with pen and watercolour. The overall composition is divided horizontally: the upper half left bare with a faint underdrawing, and the lower half featuring a carefully rendered insect. This contrast between the sketch and the finished study underscores the artist’s focus on scientific observation. Brandes uses delicate washes of yellow and brown to define the grasshopper’s form, capturing its texture and structure with precision. The detailed rendering is not just a depiction; it's a semiotic encoding of nature, categorized and presented for scholarly understanding. The composition invites us to consider how the image functions as both art and scientific document, reflecting the Enlightenment's impulse to classify and rationalize the natural world through visual means. The structure of the image, with its contrasting levels of finish, highlights the process of observation and documentation inherent in scientific inquiry.