Merian Insect Transformation FigCXI

$300.00

Merian Insect Transformation FigCXI. An 18th Century insecten transformations by Maria Sybilla Merian. Sourced from Insects of Europe, Published Amsterdam 1730. Copper plate engravings on rag paper with modern water colors.  7×10″

Description

Maria Merian’s Insects of Europe was a revolutionary work of art. It changed Medieval thought about insect transformations & metamorphosis, forever.

Maria Sybilla Merian Insect Transformation FigCXI.  Insects prints from Insects of Europe by Maria Sybilla Merian.  This work on European Entomology published in Amsterdam, 1730.  She was the first, such a revolutionary woman of the 18th Century, to explain through decorative illustrations, the transformation & metamorphoses of butterflies, moths and other insects. Maria Sybilla Merian’s work on Insects of Europe was pioneering. It changed Medieval thought forever about metamorphosis.

Merian, was enthralled with insects. At a very young age she started collecting and studying them. The incredible woman lead this significant discovery. She proved the stages of insect transformation to the male dominated world of science.  Up to this time,  it was thought that butterflies were birthed from various sources, rather than from a cocoon or pupa. Perhaps or such as leaf of a tree. Bookplate Maria Sybilla Merian Insect Transformation FigCXI demonstrates this. Women were not allowed to work in oils! So she sketched & worked in water colors.  Recording each and every stage of the metamorphosis c.1700. Another influence on her life’s passion for creating these remarkable insect prints was that her step father was a famous publisher and owned and operated his own shop!

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