Porcelain-White Spider 2
Meet the porcelain-white spider, rendered here with surprising elegance by Emma Beach Thayer. With its bulbous white abdomen splashed with bold red and pale, spindly legs, the creature floats against a soft, watery green wash. Thayer was a dedicated naturalist who painted insects and spiders from life, often helping her husband, Abbott Handerson Thayer, develop his famous theories on animal camouflage. It turns out that even the things that make us squeamish can be quite beautiful when looked at closely!