Unidentifiable caper, Plate 44. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). from Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium. Hand Colored Engravings. Amsterdam: J. Oosterwyk, 1719.
20 x 13 1/2 inches sheet, 31 x 24 1/4 inches framed. Merian’s life is, by all accounts, an amazing story. She overcame contemporary estimations of women’s (lack of) creativity and talent to become one of the most noted natural history artists of her time. In 1685, after twenty years of marriage to the artist Jacob Marrel, she left him, taking her two daughters with her, to join the Labadist religious sect. In 1699 she departed for the Dutch colony of Surinam to draw and watercolor studies of plants and insects for her most celebrated, lavish work, the Insects of Surinam. Published in Amsterdam in 1705, it achieved immediate acclaim. These splendid images represent a unique opportunity to acquire original works by an artist who broke barriers as a woman, as a scientist and artist, and whose accomplishments are no less impressive today than they were in her time.