Making Micrographia

Key Stage: 3, 4 or post-16

Length: Adaptable

Maximum group size: 20 students

This session focuses on the art of microscopic image-making, beginning with the remarkable engravings contained in an early edition of Robert Hooke’s Micrographia, published in 1665.

A short presentation is followed by a practical session in which students use modern microscopes to draw from a range of old microscope slides of biological specimens. They then learn how to create monoprints from their drawings using water-based inks.

Examples of work from previous visits can be seen in the Micrographia gallery.

See images from the Museum’s collection of micrographs in the Small Worlds exhibition.