Maria Sybilla Merian. Plate XL. Erucarum ortus... Amsterdam: J. Oosterwyck, 1718. $165.00

Plate XL

The German artist/naturalist Maria Sybilla Merian was the daughter of the noted Dutch mapmaker and publisher Mattheaus Merian. As a young girl she developed an interest in natural history and particularly entomology. She collected and raised insects, fed them and observed their habitats, drew their metamorphoses from egg to caterpillar and from pupa to butterfly and recorded these observations in her art. In the mid-1670s she prepared a text on the metamorphosis of caterpillars to butterflies but it was ignored by influential naturalists as it was not written in Latin the formal language of science. Forty years later the text was re-worked and expanded  by Merian’s daughter (Maria died before the completion) and published in 1717-18 as Erucarum Ortus (The Miraculous Transformation and Unusual Flower Food of Caterpillars) featuring approx. 150 plates of European insects along with their associated plants.  Her passion for the study of insects and her skills as an artist cause her to be known as one of the most remarkable naturalists of the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

Copperplate engraving on laid paper with modern hand color
9 x 6 5/8 inches sheet size.
Excellent condition.