300th Anniversary of Maria Sibylla Merian Celebrated with German Exhibitions

Three hundred years after her death, German museums are honoring Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717), the pioneering artist and naturalist. Daughter of Swiss engraver Matthäus Merian the Elder, she learned engraving from her stepfather Jacob Marell, a flower still-life painter. In 1699, she traveled to the Dutch colony of Suriname for two years to observe and draw exotic plants and insects, ignoring warnings about extreme climate. Upon returning to the Netherlands, her Suriname drawings were exhibited at Amsterdam's city hall in 1701. She published "Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium" based on sixty selected engravings, which brought her fame across Europe. Merian is considered a founder of modern entomology; her distinction between butterflies and moths remains valid. Among her admirers was Peter the Great of Russia, who purchased many drawings now in the Hermitage. The Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt am Main present a joint exhibition "Maria Sibylla Merian und die Tradition des Blumenbildes" featuring about 150 works tracing floral motifs from the 15th century to Romanticism. The Museum Wiesbaden displays original specimens from her Suriname journey in dioramas. A Nuremberg exhibition focuses on connections between floral prints and embroidery art.