Anna Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 – 1717), who was born in 1647 in
Frankfurt, was a naturalist and scientific illustrator who studied plants and
insects and made detailed paintings about them. Her detailed observations and
documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly make her a significant,
albeit not well known, contributor to entomology.
"In my youth, I spent my time investigating insects. At the beginning,
I started with silk worms in my home town of Frankfurt. I realised that other
caterpillars produced beautiful butterflies or moths, and that silk worms did
the same. This led me to collect all the caterpillars I could find in order to
see how they changed". (foreword from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium
— Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam)
The scholars of the time believed that insects came from "spontaneous
generation of rotting mud", Against the prevailing opinion, Merian studied what
actually happened in the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies. She
took note of the transformations, along with the details of the chrysalises and
plants that they used to feed themselves, and illustrated all the stages of
their development in her sketch book.
She moved several times before settling for a time in Amsterdam. Her
older daughter, Johanna Helena, married merchant Jacob Herolt and moved with
him to Surinam, which was at that time a recently acquired Dutch colony. In
1699 the city of Amsterdam sponsored Merian to travel to Surinam.
The pursuit of her work in Suriname was an unusual endeavour, especially
for a woman. In general, men travelled in the colonies to find insects, make
collections and to work there, or to settle. Scientific expeditions at this
period of time were almost totally unknown and the work of Merian raised many
eyebrows. She succeeded, however, in discovering a whole range of previously
unknown animals and plants in the interior of Surinam. Merian spent time
studying and classifying her findings and described them in great detail. Her
classification of butterflies and moths is still relevant today.
It is notable that her work was largely ignored by scientists of the
time because the official language of science was still Latin. In the last
years of the 20th century, the work of Merian has been rediscovered and
recognised.
