EAN: 9783775735001

MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN - ROELOF VAN GELDER HEIDRU...

At the young age of thirteen  Maria Sibylla Merian had already begun her systematic
entomological research with a study of the silk worm  a description of which opens her second
book  entitled Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandlung ...(The Caterpillar's Wondrous
Metamorphosi...). Motivated by reports on the flora and fauna of Surinam published by
missionaries of the pietistic Labadist church  which she joined in 1685  she undertook a
perilous journey to the tropics. Following her return home  she had her insect studies -
life-sized drawings of insects on parchment - engraved in copper  adding descriptions of each
species and its habitat. Four editions of these large-format engravings were published between
1719 and 1771. The epochal accomplishment of the painter  engraver and naturalist Maria Sibylla
Merian is to be found in the artistic perfection of her presentation of the results of
meticulous entomological research  decades before the appearance of Linné's Systema Naturae in
1735. Following the seminal studies by Elisabeth Rücker  this publication is the first
comprehensive monograph on the work of Maria Sibylla Merian. It focuses not only on her
artistic and scientific achievements but on her role as a publisher and entrepreneur as well.
New material on the life and work of this extraordinary artist is provided in the form of
unpublished letters and 40 previously unpublished water-colors from her St. Petersburg
sketchbook.

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