Lot 1127: Hermanus de Wit (Dordrecht 1764-1842)

Hermanus de Wit (Dordrecht 1764-1842)
Two studies of moths, including an Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia)
each with inscription 'Hermanus de Wit 1764 - Dordrecht - 1842' (on the verso)
black chalk, watercolour, bodycolour, pen and brown ink framing lines, watermark 'J WHATMAN TURKEY MILL', unframed
5 7/8 x 3¼ in. (15 x 18.2 cm.); and 5 x 3 1/8 in. (14.4 x 8 cm.) (2)

The present drawings are among the only works known by Hermanus de Wit, who spent his life working in his native Dordrect and who specialised in natural history studies. An exhibition in Dordrect in 1819 recorded two drawings by him of butterflies on plants 'in colour', which may have been the present drawings (see P.A. Scheen, Lexicon Nederlandse Beeldende Kunstenaars 1750-1950, II, 's-Gravenhage, 1970, p. 613).