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French patinter and illustrator Bernard Durin (1940-1988) discovered the beauty of insects for himself and for his art during a walk in Provence in 1972. During the following decades he made around 60 portraits of insects, using rare and fascinating specimens entrusted to him by the etymologists of the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Superior in detail to photography and highly esteemed by natural scientists and art lovers alike, 48 of these portraits adorn this book. Going far beyond the centuries-old tradition of documentary representations of animals, Durin succeeded in portraying each insect as an "individual personality." Gerhard scherer wrote the introduction and the texts accompanying the plates.

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