[Microscopic view of blue fly and fly wing at right] – Vintage Wall Art
![[Microscopic view of blue fly and fly wing at right], [published 1665] — antique engraving](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/14/148d75b14d17-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
Few images capture their era like this antique engraving of [Microscopic view of blue fly and fly wing at right]. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. It makes a striking addition to a living room, study or office, and a thoughtful gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.
[Microscopic view of blue fly and fly wing at right]
Order a print
Thank you. Your order went through, and a receipt is on its way by email.
Secure checkout · SSL encryptedPowered by Stripe and PayPal
Free shipping in the lower 48 states. The checkout page shows the picture, size and price before you pay.
A blue fly and a detail of its wing fill the right side of this engraving, rendered as they appeared under a microscope. It comes from Robert Hooke's *Micrographia*, published in London in 1665, a book that offered readers magnified views of insects, plants and everyday materials. Hooke, who served as curator of experiments for the Royal Society, used a compound microscope to reveal fine structures the naked eye could not resolve. The plate is worth a close look for the precision of its engraving, which had to translate tiny body and wing details into lines a printer could reproduce.
| Created / published | [published 1665] |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 print : engraving. |
| Genre | Book illustrations 1660-1670.Scientific illustrations 1660-1670.Engravings 1660-1670. |
| Notes | Illus. in: Micrographia / Robert Hooke. London: J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665. Published in: The tradition of science / Leonard C. Bruno. Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1987, p. 86. |
| Subjects | Flies--1660-1670. Zoology--England--London--1660-1670. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,017 × 1,536 px · prints to 3 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-166260 |
More from the Historic Print Archive collection
Snapshots of the Past helps heritage brands, museums, historians and storytellers tell stories with history: historic prints, image licensing and historical storytelling drawn from more than 25 years of research and curation.
![[Tommy Corcoran (left) and Ben Cohen (right) posed, standing, full length]](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/b3/b3c8d3c8ea3b-400.webp)
