Maria Sybilla Merian: Changing the nature of art and science

Abstract

Pre-modern studies of nature depended much on collecting and collections. Obtaining and preserving naturalia (dry, wet or live) extended individuals’ geographical and temporal reach and made possible sustained scrutiny and comparison alongside images and text. It was the exotic insects in the Amsterdam collections of Frederick Ruysch, Nicolaes Witsen and others that inspired Maria Sybilla Merian (1647–1717) to go to Suriname at the age of 52 (having separated from her husband) with her younger daughter, Dorothea Maria. She returned after two years and published Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium (1705) full of brightly coloured, life-size images of insects whose phases of transformation were artfully staged on their host plants. These images became collectable art objects as well as a point of reference for naturalists. The vividness and immediacy with which Merian rendered insects and plants, the trip she made to Suriname and her close attention to the lives of insects in their natural habitat have made her almost sui generis in the university-educated male-dominated world of science.