A forest floor still life with butterflies and snails, a landscape beyond; and A forest floor still life with butterflies and lizards

Elias van den Broeck is best known for his accurate depictions, such as the present pair, of insects, reptiles and amphibians set amidst the flora of a forest floor. His technique for painting butterflies was, in common with others of his contemporaries, including Otto Marseus van Schriek, Jeremias Falch and Philip van Kouwenbergh, to attach the actual wings of a butterfly on a white painted ground. The beauty of the wings was thought in this way be captured with greater realism and greater permanence. Ironically, of course, in almost all such cases, the wings have long disappeared, and are frequently painted in by a later hand (see F. Meyer, 'Philip van Kouwenbergh', Oud Holland, LII, 1980, p. 320).