Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Dutch, 1647-1717
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647—1717) was a naturalist and artist. Her contributions to entomology were never appropriately recognized in her lifetime. She is now considered to be a pioneer in the fields of botany and zoology. She made detailed observations of live specimens, which was a departure from previous studies that used preserved specimens. She focused great detail on the processes of metamorphosis, which had not been studied so comprehensively before her work. The engravings for the publication were done by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter and A. Stopendaal, all after paintings on vellum by Merian. The work is considered to be one of the most beautiful, and famous illustrated natural history works of the 18th century. The work was the result of Merian's trip in 1699 with her daughter Dorothea to Surinam, a Dutch colony on the northeastern coast of South America. The pair studied and recorded plants and insects for two years under difficult conditions. They came back to Amsterdam with specimens, notes and drawings and there completed their astounding work. One naturalist proclaimed "Her portrayals of living insects and other animals were imbued with a charm, a minuteness of observation and an artistic sensibility that had not previously been seen in a natural history book; if Gould and Audubon have 'a spiritual ancestor, then it is difficult to think of a more worthy claimant to the title than Maria Sibylla Merian." On the day Maria Sibylla Merian died, Tsar Peter the Great purchased a two-volume collection of her unbound paintings, as well as her journal.
Born in Frankfurt am Main, Maria Sibylla Merian was the daughter of Matthaus Merian the Elder (1593—1650), a famous German-Swiss painter, engraver and publisher. Her father died when she was three and her mother remarried Jacob Marrel (1614-1681), who was a still-life painter. From the time she was eleven, Marrel schooled Maria Sibylla Merian in the tradition of northern European still life painting, working directly from life. As her interests evolved toward the study of insects, she employed these artistic skills to create her outstanding scientific and esthetically beautiful works. She was truly at the crossroads of art and science.(Biography provided by Timeless Intaglio)
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Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter - Hibiscus flowers and swallowtail Nr.31
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopenda...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Batate and spinners Nr.41
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopenda...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Pomegranate blossom and lantern bearer Nr.49
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of ...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter Sculp - Guayave spiders and insects Nr.18
By Georg Wilhelm Stoopendaal, Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of ...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Emanuel Sweert - Maria Merian - Daniel Rabel - Copper engraving 4 tulips plate 5
By Daniel Rabel, Emanuel Sweert, Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TULIP ENGRAVINGS EVER PUBLISHED Four Tulips PL.V. (plate 5), copper engraving made by Em(m)anuel Sweert(s) and published by D...
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Early 18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Paper, Paint, Parchment Paper
Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Pomegranate and blue morpho Nr. 9
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of ...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter - Peppers and Hawkmoths Nr. 55
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
PEPPERS AND MOTIVES
Paprika, from the night damage family, a gift from the New to the Old World, a pleasant one like tomatoes and potatoes, like corn and beans, not a dangerous one like tobacco. You can no longer imagine our, especially the Mediterranean cuisine of the pre-Columbian period, both received such enrichment from America, potatoes, corn, beans as substances, tomatoes and peppers as spices and flavors, foreign, from far away , adding a new dimension to our dishes. The pepper has become the strongest source of vitamins in our latitudes, an indispensable medicine in our often denatured food.
The varieties we grow belong to the species Capsicum annuum, the plant drawn by the painter is Capsicum sinense, of which two or three fruit shapes and different stages of ripeness were combined on one branch. The ripe fruit bodies are visible on the eye of the tongue: anyone who looks at them will taste the peppery spiciness after a while. The leaf is a triangle, it thins from the lower broad solidity of the capsule area up to the lightness of the buds and flowers. Diversity also in the fact that the fruits are of different lengths, different colors, harmony between the dark green and red shapes, relief-like articulation of the pod surfaces.
Butterfly, chrysalis and caterpillar cannot be precisely defined; they are hawkmoths from a group that counts seventy species in tropical America. A close relative of the strong-snouted Cocytius antarus - the pupa's beak is also noticeable here.
(Original plate no. 55)
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Maria Sibylla...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter - Flowering Banana and Automeris Nr. 12
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Paper
Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter - Hibiscus flowers and swallowtail Nr. 31
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - Coral Tree and Silk Moth Nr. 11
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
CORAL TREE AND SILK MOTH
The plant is Erythrina glanca, the blue-green coral tree, easily recognized as a legume by its fruits, called Koffiemama by the Surinamese Dutch because it is used as a shade tree in coffee and cocoa plantations. Both crops do not tolerate the direct rays of the tropical sun well. Erythrina is also called pallisade booms because the Indians split the logs and build huts and walls from the boards. The inflorescences are so heavy that the branches are pulled against the ground and only stand up again when the petals fall off. The ripe fruit cluster has pods like a broom and also serves this purpose among the natives. If the sheet with the pomegranate (original plate no. 9) lived in the tension of red and blue, one can speak less of tension here, one must speak of a moving fullness of life, which is expressed in green, yellow and brown along the two diagonals is formed by the branch, the other by the opposition of the two butterflies, the upper female and the lower male.
The butterfly is Arsenura cassandra from the family Syssphingidae, from the family group of silk moths. This species creates interest through the molting of the caterpillars. Those that have just hatched from the egg are striped black and yellow and have thorns on the front and back. Over the course of five molts, the animals turn orange with a black spot on each limb, the thorns wither and finally disappear completely before pupation. Here, too, the author of the composition has made a sacrifice of accuracy: the caterpillar pupates in the ground or on the surface in leaves and mulch, but not at the top of the tree. (Original plate no. 11)
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Maria Sibylla...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - Mexican Poppy and Longhorn Beetle Nr. 24
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
MEXICAN SPRAY POPPIES AND HLONGHORN BEETLES
The plant is a prickly poppy, Argemone mexicana, native to Mexico but distributed throughout the tropics. A successful ensemble: the soft, light fullness of the flowers, the repellent prickliness of the leaves, the metallic, solid and dark tone of the beetles and the fat, angelic whitishness of the maggots. Here too, a breakout from the butterfly area, no dusty forms, but chiselled ones. Three different species of longhorn beetles and two maggots. The middle, largest beetle is perhaps Callipogon barbatus. Here too, reality was treated freely for the sake of the composition. The beetle larvae do not live on plants, but mostly in the soil, in the humus of weathering plant parts, and if not there, then in trunks and stems. The author says it herself: »I found small worms under the roots of this plant, orange in color with a black head and tail. They turned into yellow-spotted beetles - just like one was drawn in flight at the bottom left. She encountered the second worm in rotten wood, which became the top beetle, which still retains something worm-like on its belly. (Original plate no. 24)
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Maria Sibylla...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Batate and spinners Nr. 41
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
BATATE AND SPINNER
A rich engraving, the diversity depicted is introduced by the unusual duality of the forage plants. The climbing plant with the blue morning glory flower and the underground tuber is in fact a convolvulaceae, the Ipomoea batatas, sweet potato or batate, which is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics. The yellow-flowered herb is a relative of bananas, a Heliconia, whose species could not be determined. The juxtaposition of the towering and twining growth, the lower, self-contracted tuber and the upper, bright, differentiated flower. A tropical bug flies towards the top left. At the top right is a spider caterpillar with a cocoon - an error on the part of the author that she let the bug emerge from the web. Below are two caterpillars, the pupa and two butterflies of a dioptid, a family of about five hundred similar species that inhabits America. Here too, definitions are only possible with anatomical examination, as the species imitate each other, predominantly with red-black markings. Maria Sibylla...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Passionflower and insects Nr. 21
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
PASSION FLOWER AND INSECTS
A leaf filled with life, a small cosmos, a square without a blank space, once again the dominance of the plant, Passiflora laurifolia, i.e. bay leaf passionflower, from the Passifloraceae family, beautiful the open flower that shines into the sun. As the English names Yellow Granadine and Jamaica Honeysuckle suggest, the juice of the fruit is made into drinks; the taste is so pleasant that the plant, which comes from America, has spread throughout the tropics. The author praises the pleasant, widely noticeable scent. On the stem at the bottom right and in the middle on the left are two colorful bugs, just like these rhynchotes, which we despise, make magnificent creatures in the tropics. The butterfly on the right is no more definable than all the caterpillars and pupae shown here. Two caterpillar sacks, houses of sack carriers, are shown. The caterpillars build this shell out of webs, stones, pieces of leaves and stems and carry it around with them like a hermit crab does its snail shell. When they want to move or eat, they leave it with only their front part and pull By closing the opening, they retreat inside in case of danger.
(Original plate no. 21)
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Maria Sibylla...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter Sculp - Bitter orange and mirror bearer Nr. 65
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter - Banana fruit and Caligo Nr. 23
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
BANANA FRUIT AND CALIGO
Another banana, but this time only with one and a half fruits and pushed to the side, not a filled-in sheet, but more of a sketch. The lizard cannot be identified; note its eggs and the young animal; it is also an attempt to accept the whole of creation. The butterfly, perhaps the most beautiful that Maria Sibylla...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Citron and longhorn beetle Nr. 28
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of ...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Ginger plant and castnis moths Nr. 36
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of ...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Paper
Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Pomegranate blossom and lantern bearer Nr.49
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
POMEGRANATE FLOWER AND LANTERN BEARER
Again the pomegranate, this time of the double flowering form. The division of the picture, the vegetative world below, the bizarre insect figures above, but these also subjugate the lower piece if three of them crawl on the branch. There are three types of cicadas. The three large animals belong to the species Laternaria phosphorea; they are lantern bearers with a chitinous bulge on their foreheads that shines so brightly in the darkness that one can read. Natives had once brought the painter some lantern bearers. She didn't know anything about them, put them in a box and went to sleep. She woke up from the noise that was going on in the box, opened it and dropped it in shock - a flame shot up at her, so powerful was the combined light of the cicadas, which, by the way, sing just as shrilly as the Mediterranean ones. The lowest animal is also a Laternaria, although a different species from phosphorea. The green insect that makes a lyre music...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter - Bat apple and praying mantis Nr. 27
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - J. Mulder - Cotton leaf Jatropha and Hawkmoth Nr. 38
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of ...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Paper
Maria Sibylla Merian - P. Sluyter Sculp - Guayave spiders and insects Nr. 18
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Maria Sibylla Merian - D. Stoopendaal - Yellow mombin plum blue butterfly Nr.13
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in EINDHOVEN, NL
From Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, first published 1705
Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter (Sluiter) and D. Stoopendaal after Maria Sybilla Merian.
This plate is part of a comprehensive collection comprising 17 plates. Check out other listings to view the entire series.
1964 Hoffman and Campe Verlag, Hamburg Complete production Mladinska Knjiga, Ljubljana/Yugoslavia.
This 1964 official reproduction table come from the editions: Dissertation sur la génération et les transformations des insectes de Surinam, The Hague, Pierre Gosse, 1726, and Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke Veranderingen der Surinaamsche insects, Amsterdam, Jean Frederic Bernard, 1730.
YELLOW MOMBIN PLUM AND BLUE
Here again the constitution of the two diagonals, one made up of the fruit cluster and the two delicate blue butterflies, the other made up of the branch of the plant, Spondias mombin from the Anacardiaceae family, the sumac or terebinth family, of which we have the wig bush, the poison sumac and the vinegar tree can be planted in systems.
The yellow mombin plum, also known as yellow plum, is native to tropical America, but has also become naturalized in West Africa and Java. The author did not know anything about a yellow plum culture in Suriname, and she blames the Europeans there for this omission. The juice of the fruit is tart, astringent. I point out the structure, from the fruit cluster to the undeveloped and unfolded leaf all the way up to the flower.
The butterfly is a hairstreak, subfamily Theclinae, family Bluelings, Lycaenidae - the species cannot be identified. According to Maria Sibylla's comments, the heavily spined caterpillars live on the fruit; they only gnaw the leaves when they have no fruit...
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18th Century Dutch Other Antique Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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37. Branching larkspur, Peaseblossom moth
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
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18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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49. White guava, Manduca sexta
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Pigment
20. Curious shells
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
31. Keel-tail iguana, Holbrookia spec., Surinam ameiva, Gecko
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
6. Crown Imperial, Yellow archangel, Prominent
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
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18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
23. Dendrites of ferrous hydroxide, ferric hydroxide, and manganese ore fissure
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
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18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Pigment
28. Saltatoria Mantis
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
27. Metallic beetle, Lunar-headed dung-beetle, Capricorn beetle, Harlequin beet
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
45. Hairy cotton, Helicopis cupido
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
32. Shorthorned grasshopper, Dung beetle, Water scavenger beetle, Longhorned bee
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
25. Spray of flowers, not clearly identifiable
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Pigment
42. Martagon lily, Frog-hopper, Acronicta leporina, Looper, inchworm
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
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18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Pigment
17. True tulip, Triton's trumpet, Hermit crab
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
29. Arctian, Castnia, Steirodon thoracicm
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
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18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
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Pigment
48. Hibiscus
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
41. Rosa hemisphaerica, Dagger moth
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
35. Common hyacinth, Common tiger, moth
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
22. Bangles, Minerals
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
14. Sponge crab, Calappid, Lophozozymus octodentatus
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
15. Horseshoe crab, king crab
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
40. Fennel flower, Iron Prominent
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
38. Musk-thistle, Syrphid-fly
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
21. Fingerstones, fossil blemnites, Axes of nephrite, flint & metal, Fossilized
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
19. Spider conches
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
16. Branching star
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Columbia, MO
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in Germany in 1647 and received early artistic training from her stepfather, an established still life painter. She was fascinated by insects and collec...
Category
18th Century Realist Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Pigment
Tree with moth, caterpillar..., Plate 39, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 39; Unidentified tree with moth, caterpillar and pupa.
The Netherlands: 1705....
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
Thistle and Moths, plate no. 6, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 6; Thistle and Moths. The Netherlands: 1705. Engraving with hand coloring in w...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
4 plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars & their Strange Diet..
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: LIV, LV, LVI, & LVII.
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation.
Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
3 plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars & their Strange Diet..
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Three plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: XLVIII; XLIX & L.
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation.
Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
4 plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars & their Strange Diet..
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: No.1:I; No. 2:1; II & III.
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation.
Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
4 plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars & their Strange Diet..
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: JF Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: CXLI, CXLII, CXIII & CXLIV.
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation.
Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
Cocoa plant, caterpillar, ..., Plate 26, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 26; Cocoa plant, caterpillar, pupa, and butterflies. The Netherlands: 1705. En...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
Icecream Bean plant..., plate no. 58, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Plate No. 58; Ice Cream Bean Plant, Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly and Caterpillar with Mot...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
4 plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars & their Strange Diet..
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: CI; CII; CIII & CIV.
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation.
Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
4 plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars & their Strange Diet..
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Middletown, NY
Four plates from The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers. “Wolfsmelk Rupsen;" “Wolfsmilch, Raupe und Schmetterling" Amsterdam: J F Bernard, 1730. Each an engraving with hand coloring in watercolor and gouache printed on one sheet of watermarked Honig cream laid paper, each measures 6 1/4 x 5 inches (157 x 121 mm), sheet measures 20 5/8 x 14 inches (522 x 355 mm), full margins. With one 1.5 inch inch tear across the area of the top-left corner, well outside of image area. Handling creases in the lower right sheet quadrant, as well as minor, loose cockling, otherwise in very good condition. The colors are superb with exceptionally fresh and bright saturation. Engraved between 1679 and 1683, printed 1730. Plates included: CXXI, CXXII, CXXIII, & CXXIV.
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN was one of the most highly respected entomologists of the 17th century, and remains today one of the field's most significant figures. A German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, she reared herself on the study of caterpillars, and made tremendous contributions to the knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Until her detailed and careful study of the process of metamorphosis it was thought that insects were "born of mud," through spontaneous generation.
Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she published her first book of illustrations in 1675, at the age of 28. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of the two-volume series on caterpillars, The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars and their Strange Diet of Flowers; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Guiana...
Category
Early 18th Century Naturalistic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Watercolor, Engraving
Plate 15. Watermelon on the Vine with Arcahia Moth.
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Florham Park, NJ
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium…
(Insects of Surinam)
Amsterdam, 1705
Hand-colored engravings.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, then a free i...
Category
Early 18th Century Academic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Engraving, Watercolor
Plate IX. Palissade. (Butterfly)
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Florham Park, NJ
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium…
(Insects of Surinam)
Amsterdam, 1705
Hand-colored engravings.
Born in Frankfurt, Germany, then a free i...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Academic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Purple Grapes.
By Maria Sibylla Merian
Located in Florham Park, NJ
This piece would pair well with Maria Sibylla Merian's "Green Grapes; which is also listed.
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)
Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium…
(Insects of Su...
Category
18th Century and Earlier Academic Maria Sybilla Merian Art
Materials
Silk, Archival Paper, Archival Tape, Gesso, Handmade Paper, Laid Paper, ...
Maria Sybilla Merian art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Maria Sybilla Merian art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Maria Sybilla Merian in paint, watercolor, engraving and more. Not every interior allows for large Maria Sybilla Merian art, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Johan Christoph Volkhamer, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, and Dr. Robert John Thornton. Maria Sybilla Merian art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,900 and tops out at $5,900, while the average work can sell for $4,500.