Lesson 4 Find and Do What You Love

When she was 13, Merian began to develop a keen

A Passion for Science and Art
interest in bugs. It was unusual for a young girl to

Today, it is common knowledge that butterflies go be passionate about caterpillars, spiders, and other

through an egg-caterpillar-pupa cycle. However, until insects, but Merian was obsessed to the point that

the 17th century, many people regarded the butterfly she would sometimes watch them for weeks on end.

and the caterpillar as entirely different creatures. They She carefully painted each step of their life cycles,

believed insects were evil creatures that came from depicting even subtle changes.

mud. Butterflies, on the other hand, were considered Even after Merian got married and had children, her

“summer birds,” and it was commonly believed that passion for insects did not die down. She kept

they just fell from the sky in warm weather and caterpillars and butterflies at home in order to study

vanished in the fall. and paint them. To capture each moment of change,

In those days, one woman stood out as a pioneer. she spent many nights awake, watching and waiting.

Although having an interest in insects was considered In her house were so many plants and jars of insects

odd and weird, she observed many cases of insect that her kitchen began to look more like a research

metamorphosis and recorded these invaluable lab.

scientific observations through her unique paintings. After almost 20 years of hard work, Merian

Her name was Maria Sibylla Merian. published a book about insects in 1679. There had

Merian was born in 1647 in the city of Frankfurt, already been books about insects, but Merian’s was

Germany. When she was still little, she became very special. While no other books had ever depicted the

interested in painting flowers. It is said that she once full life cycle of insects, Merian’s showed each stage

climbed over a wealthy neighbor’s wall to find of metamorphosis in detail. In addition, Merian

flowers that she could paint. She took some tulips revealed the relationships between living things by

without the owner’s permission. She must have been illustrating insects within their natural surroundings.

unaware of how expensive they were at the time. This was different from other drawings of the time,

When little Maria confessed her act, the neighbor which displayed only single specimens on a plain

asked to see the painting. Seeing her painting, he background. In an era when most scientists perceived

was so impressed that he only asked for the painting plants and animals individually, Merian paid attention

as compensation. to how they fit together.

 With these paintings she published her life’s work,

Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam, in 1705.

The book showed Merian’s passion for both insects

and painting. It was a truly remarkable book for its

a painting by Maria Sibylla Merian ↑ time, which contained colorful and detailed paintings

of butterflies, bees, spiders, frogs, and even snakes.

Many years passed and Merian moved to

Amsterdam, where she was able to sell her paintings

and view marvelous and exotic butterfly specimens

that other enthusiasts had collected. However, seeing

a painting from Metamorphosis of the Insects of
these lifeless creatures stuck in cases only made
Surinam
Merian desire to see them in their real habitat.

Finally, in June 1699, at 52 years of age, Merian

One illustration shows a bright blue butterfly flying
and her youngest daughter got on a ship headed for
over the colorful flowers of a pomegranate plant,
Surinam, a territory belonging to the Netherlands in
with another butterfly sitting nearby and a caterpillar
South America. This was a bold challenge. In addition
creeping down the flower stem. Another depicts two
to being a female naturalist in the male-dominated
spider webs stretched between tree branches, with
world of 17th-century science, Merian was also
tarantulas and ants attacking their prey.
setting out on an expedition with purely scientific

goals before it became common.

When the book was published, it had a tremendous

influence on the scientific understanding of insects at

She spent about two years in Surinam, exploring the
the time. Some scientists even used her illustrations
rainforests. Confronted with intense heat, fierce
in the classification of species. Her work also brought
tropical storms, and dangerous animals such as
new life not just to insect study but to the art world.
tarantulas and flesh-eating fish, Merian continued to
Goethe, a celebrated German poet, also must have
collect every sample she could get. In her own
been impressed by her work. He praised Merian’s
house, she kept the insects she brought out of the
talent for weaving art and science together.
forests and made numerous descriptions and

paintings. Eventually she painted more than 90

species of insects and at least 60 species of plants.

 In spite of this success, the popularity of her work

faded after her death. It is thought that this was

because she was not a professional researcher and

had no formal education. Furthermore, her work dealt

with flowers and insects, not the historical or

religious topics that prevailed in those days.

paintings from Metamorphosis of the Insects of

Surinam ↑

In the 20th century, however, Maria Sibylla Merian’s

work was reevaluated. Historians and artists began to

recognize her extraordinary accomplishments and her

passion that contributed so much to early modern

science. In recognition of her achievement, Germany

put her portrait on their 500-mark bill, and today

many schools there are named after her.

Maria Sibylla Merian was a naturalist whose passion

for plants and insects left its mark on the science

world. While other scientists of the day were

debating whether or not insects grew out of mud,

she demonstrated the stages of metamorphosis. To

the art world, Merian was one of the first to show

the artistic power of nature. Despite the doubts,

suspicion, and ridicule she faced for being so

different from “typical” women, Merian is now known

as one of the greatest scientific illustrators in history.