MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN
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Maria Sibylla Merian was a Swiss naturalist and artist living and working in the seventeenth century. She excelled in both endeavors. One of her principal claims to fame is that she is one of the first naturalists to have studied insects. She recorded and illustrated the life cycles of 186 insect species. Her evidence documented the nature of metamorphosis and contradicted contemporary ideas about how insects developed. Her classification of butterflies and moths is still used today. She also undertook scientific expeditions at a time when these were unusual and normally undertaken by men only. She is best known for her illustrations of plants and insects made as a result of her trips to the tropical country of Suriname on the north eastern cost of South America. Merian is rated as being one of the greatest ever botanical artists. |
| Image: Merian, Maria Sibylla. 1730. De Europische insecten : naauwkeurig onderzogt, na't leven geschildert, en in print gebragt door hier is nog bygevoegt een naauwkeurige beschryving van de planten, in dit werk voorkomende, Tot Amsterdam : By J.F. Bernard. |
