Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was one of the greatest artist-naturalists of her time. From childhood she had been fascinated by the life cycles of butterflies, and she made a close study of their transformations. She became a flower-painter and teacher in Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Inspired by exotic specimens imported from the Dutch colonies for the natural history collections of Holland, in 1699, at the age of fifty-two, Merian made an expedition to Surinam (Dutch Guiana) in South America together with her youngest daughter. Her aim was to study the indigenous flora and fauna in their tropical habitat. The pair stayed in Surinam for two years, traveling around the colony and sketching. Upon return to Amsterdam she began work on a lavishly illustrated book on the fauna of Surinam; Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium. Merian was especially famous for these Metamorphosis prints. She discovered a range of previously unknown insects and plants. She also spent a great deal of time classifying her findings. She is considered by modern scholars to be one of the founders of entomology, the study of insects.<\/p>\n
These 4 exquisite and artful prints were printed or published after Merian’s death after the original plates of one of the caterpillar books: \u2018De Europische insecten… na ‘t leven geschildert, en in print gebragt door Maria Sibilla Meriaen: hier is nog bijgevoegt een nauwkeurige beschrijving van de planten, described by J. Marret and published by J.F. Bernard in 1730. They were hand colored later.<\/p>\n
This print represents pear blossom.<\/p>\n
dimensions print: 14.8 x 11.3 cm.
\ndimensions framed print: 37 x 32 cm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was one of the greatest artist-naturalists of her time. From childhood she had been fascinated by the life cycles of butterflies, and she made a close study of their transformations. She became a flower-painter and teacher in Nuremberg, Frankfurt and Amsterdam. Inspired by exotic specimens imported from the Dutch colonies for […]\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4145,"template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"product_cat":[34,345],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8579","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-objets-de-vertu-en","7":"product_cat-sold","8":"pa_period-early-jewellery","9":"pa_pricerange-e-1000-e-2500","11":"first","12":"instock","13":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\n