Naturalist and illustrator whose engravings showed insects alive among their host plants.
Serene
Radical
Nature & Ecology
Fun fact
At 52 she sailed to Suriname with her daughter to study insects, a self-funded scientific expedition almost unheard of for anyone at the time.
How she made it
Watercolour and bodycolour on vellum, translated into copperplate engravings that she often hand-coloured. She reared insects alive through their full life cycle and drew each stage from the living specimen on its host plant.
Work
Bildnis der Maria Sibylla Merian, 1, 1679date QS:P571,+1679-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
