A watercolour painting executed by the Dutch painter Rochus van Veen in 1681 and held in the Getty Museum, Alabama, depicting, in exquisite detail, two males of Libellula quadrimaculata and one male of L. depressa, is presented and discussed. The specimens were obtained in May 1681 during the first documented mass migration of dragonflies in the Netherlands. Other records of early dragonfly migrations are noted.