Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717)

Merian was born on April 2, 1647, in Frankfurt am Main, now in Germany. She died in Amsterdam in 1717 at age 69. Her father, Matthäus Merian the Elder, died in 1650 when she was three. Maria's mother remarried the flower painter, Jacob Marrel. Maria began to collect and study insects in her back garden. By the time she was 13, she had already observed the metamorphosis of a silkworm. Maria studied and worked with her brothers and the students coming to her stepfather's school. In 1665, when she was 18, she married Johann Andreas Graff, one of her stepfather's pupils. Between 1678 and 1683, Maria worked on and published two volumes of her first scientific book, Der Raupen Wunderbare Verwandlung (The Wonderful Transformations of Caterpillars.) After divorcing her husband, Maria's mother died in 1690, and the following year, she moved with her daughters to Amsterdam. In 1699, Merian was granted permission by the city of Amsterdam to travel to Suriname. She and her daughter sketched insects, plants, and animals in their natural surroundings.

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Blogs about Works of Merian

The Life, Art, and Science (1705-1706) of Maria Sibylla Merian