Maria SIBYLLA MERIAN — the woman who turned science into art
Disclaimer: The information provided in this episode comes from multiple sources and are not my scientific studies or discoveries. Bear with me as I am editing all the texts and crediting the authors. Thank you!
Welcome to HerArt podcast, a project for art lovers, especially art created by women. In our third episode, we will talk about Maria SIBYLLA MERIAN — the woman who turned science into art. My name is Nata Andreev and I am going to tell you seven curious facts that you didn’t know about the woman that combined art with science and was recognized as a naturalist, explorer and one of the pioneers of modern entomology. Don’t forget about our monthly giveaways! Share your favorite artwork created by a female artist, tag us in your post and be rewarded with feminist stickers wall art.
Curious Fact #1
When Merian was three, her father, renowned illustrator Matthäus Merian, died, and she subsequently was raised by her mother and stepfather, still-life painter Jacob Marrel. Merian studied painting under the tutelage of Marrel at the family’s Frankfurt home. At age 13, she took up a hobby that she would pursue until the end of her life: collecting and raising caterpillars to observe their transformation into moths and butterflies. She noted the details in her notebooks, sticking strictly to recording what she witnessed through the raising of these insects. “The only reliable approach to the study of natural phenomena is through observation,” she wrote. Insects at that time were considered by the Church to be the “spawn of the devil”.
Curious Fact #2
After two decades of observation, Merian published in 1679 her first book, “The wonderful transformation of caterpillars” considered the first complete description of the life cycle of some insects, and also their ecological relationships. Instead of representing specimens on a flat background, she showed their relationships with other animals and plants, going against the grain of the great scientists of her time, who limited themselves to classifying them into separate categories. It was the first time that animals, plants, and insects were portrayed together.
Curious Fact #3
Merian was also a pioneer in emancipating herself from the social ties that restricted the freedom and curiosity of women. She divorced in 1685 to go with her daughters to a pietist commune in Amsterdam. And at a time when most female naturalists stayed at home classifying plants and animals in their locality (or those that they received from abroad), she undertook a trip to a semi-unknown tropical country. In 1699, at the age of 52, she traveled to Surinam, the former Dutch Guiana, to collect and cultivate specimens of exotic flora and fauna.
Curious Fact #4
She returned to Europe after two years and gathered the results of her research into her masterpiece: Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname), published in 1705. This work revealed unknown plants and animals in the Old Continent and established her as the first empirical entomologist, who traveled to observe and describe insects in their own habitat. In sixty illustrations she detailed the life cycle of caterpillars, worms, moths, butterflies, beetles, bees and flies. In addition to its undeniable scientific value, the publication was highly praised for its artistic value.
Curious Fact #5
But perhaps the most important contribution of Maria Sibylla Merian to entomology was the new discoveries. Nine species of butterflies and two of beetles, in addition to six plants, were christened with her name. Her work was so rich, careful and innovative that for a long time she was a fundamental reference in that field of study. After her death in 1717, her name fell into oblivion until she was rediscovered as a scientific figure in the twentieth century.
Curious Fact #6
The year of Merian’s death, her paintings were purchased for Peter I, tsar of Russia. Dorothea Maria her youngest daughter subsequently was summoned to St. Petersburg, where she worked as a scientific illustrator for the tsar and became the first woman to be employed by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Johanna Helena, her first daughter, who moved with her husband to Suriname in 1711, likewise became a noted artist in her own right. Today, while Merian has experienced reinvigorated fame in the eyes of the art and science communities, some of her work has finally been accurately re-attributed to her daughters, Dorothea and Johanna. Joanna Helena Herolt often did not receive credit for her artwork because they were created in collaboration with her mother. Today her works are in the process of recovery.[citation needed] Similarly, Dorothea Maria Graff’s images have only recently been accredited to the German painter: Sam Segal has re-attributed 30 or 91 folios in the British Museum.
Curious Fact #7
In the last quarter of the 20th century, the work of Merian was re-evaluated, validated, and reprinted. Her portrait was printed on the 500 Deutsch Mark note before Germany converted to the euro. The renewed scientific and artistic interest in her work was triggered in part by a number of scholars who examined the collection of her works, such as the one in Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen.
Thank you so much for listening to the second episode of HerArt podcast — a project for art lovers, especially art created by women. If you want to follow more of what we do, find us on Facebook and Instagram. Tune in next month, when I am going to tell you about Amalia LINDEGREN — the first Swedish woman to be awarded a scholarship to study art abroad. I’ll see you later!
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