1647-1717

Maria Sibylla Merian, the daughter of a Swiss engraver, was born and educated in Germany. Her mother, however, was Dutch, and on the death of Matthaeus Merian she married the Dutch flower painter Jacob Marrell. Maria herself became the wife of a German artist, and her first insect and flower books were published in Germany. In 1685, however, she converted to Labadism, left her husband, and settled in Holland. Three years later, accompanied by her daughter Dorothea, she sailed for Surinam (then Dutch Guiana), where she collected the material for her greatest work, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium. This was a remarkable feat; although the turn of the eighteenth century was a time of great scientific exploration and discovery, few artists - let alone female artists - actually went on expeditions themselves.