Maria Sibylla Merian
1647–1717 · 1 work
Maria Sibylla Merian joined art and the study of insects through drawings that connect living creatures with the plants around them. She raised caterpillars and observed their transformations, presenting eggs, larvae, pupae, and adult insects together. Her later research in Suriname, undertaken with her daughter, also drew on knowledge shared by Indigenous and enslaved people. The earlier study of a hawk moth and morning glory shows the same close attention to relationships: it asks us to see a plant as part of an insect’s life.