Maria Sibylla Merian Biography
Pineapple and Cockroach Metamorphosis Image by Maria Sibylla Merian circa 1705
from Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium by Maria Sibylla Merian 1647-1717, published in Amsterdam by G. Valck in 1705
DIED: January 13, 1717, Amsterdam
FATHER: Mathew Merian (b. 1593, entered into a partnership with Jacques Callot, d. 1651)
STEPFATHER: James Morell
BROTHER: Matthew Merian
HUSBAND: John Andrew Graf
DAUGHTERS: Dorothea and Helena
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Frankfurt on the Main. According to her book Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium, in her youth, she kept herself busy with exploring and painting insects, at first studying silkworms. She spent her life in Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Friesland and Amsterdam. She was the daughter of Matthew [Matthäus] Merian and studied under Abraham Mingon. She painted frequently in water-colors on vellum.
In 1699, she traveled to Surinam[e], South America, with her two daughters, Dorothea and Helena. She returned to Holland two years later and, in 1705, published the plates that are included in Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium. The work was published simultaneously in Dutch and Latin. It was subsequently translated into French. Dorothea, her daughter, is said to have contributed greatly to the work and published a new and enlarged edition after her mother’s death. Merian died in Amsterdam in 1717.
source: https://archive.org/stream/naturalistslibra30jardrich#page/18/mode/1up