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Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname
Plate 5 in Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Maria Sibylla Merian, 1730, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 145365.
A Book about Change
Originally published in 1705 and reprinted in 1730, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensis expanded Europeans’ thinking about the natural world. Maria Sibylla Merian was a botanical illustrator, a natural history illustrator, an entomologist, an ecologist, an explorer, a researcher, a writer, a publisher, and more. She embodied all of these roles to create her book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensis.
By creating and publishing this book, Merian shared new scientific information with her European audience and changed the way Europeans thought about entomology and ecology.
ENTOMO insects • LOGY the science or study of
ECO environment • LOGY the science or study of
Maria Sibylla Merian
Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian, Jacobus Houbraken, engraver, 1717, copperplate engraving. Historisches Museum.
Maria Sibylla Merian was born in 1647 into a family with connections to engraving, publishing, and botanical still life art. Merian’s stepfather, an accomplished artist named Jacob Marrell, taught her how to draw and how to work with watercolors. He also taught her how to mix pigments and prepare copper plates for printing. While Merian’s brothers traveled through Europe to continue their arts education, Merian was not allowed to continue her learning in the same way. Instead, she continued her learning in her own backyard.
At age 13, Merian began studying insects, especially silkworms. She spent months studying the same insects and documenting their lives. She wrote and illustrated her observations of what the silkworms ate and how they progressed through their lifecycle.
After her marriage ended in divorce in 1692, she moved to Amsterdam and started her own business as an independent artist and pigment-preparer. She was unable to join a painters’ guild because she was a woman. This meant she was not allowed to use oil paints and had to use watercolors. Even so, Amsterdam was a progressive city, and physicians, botanists, and scholars spoke with her about their work. Collectors bought her drawings and let her view their collections of preserved plant and animal specimens from around the world.
When Merian saw these plant and animal specimens from around the world, she became determined to go on a scientific expedition to study plant and animal life outside of Europe. In 1699, Merian sold her paintings and received a small amount of money from the Dutch government to fund a trip to Suriname, a Dutch colony in South America. On this trip, she researched, wrote about, and drew the illustrations for Metamorphosis. She contracted Malaria and returned to Amsterdam to finish the book.
Suriname as a Dutch Colony
Illustration in Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Maria Sibylla Merian, 1730, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 145365.
Suriname is a country in South America with a long history as a home to Indigenous peoples, as a site of colonization and slavery, and (currently) as an independent republic.
Many Indigenous groups have long called the land home. According to the International Work Group of Indigenous Affairs, “the four most numerous Indigenous peoples are the Kali’.a (Caribs), Lokono (Arawaks), Trio (Tirio, Tareno), and Wayana. There are also small settlements of other Amazonian Indigenous peoples in the south of the country, including the Akurio, Apalai, Wai-Wai, Katuena/Tunayana, Mawayana, Pireuyana, Sikiiyana, Okomoyana, Alamayana, Maraso, Sirewu and Sak.ta.
When European colonizers invaded the land, they created plantations for sugar and tobacco. Spanish, English, French, and Dutch colonizers all expressed interest in the land, but eventually the Netherlands established control. The land became the Dutch Colony of Suriname, and the people and natural resources were exploited to create more wealth for the colonizers. Slavery was a major part of Dutch rule in Suriname. Indigenous people were enslaved and forced to work on the plantations. African people were also enslaved and brought to the colony to work.
It is during this period of Dutch colonization that Merian made her scientific expedition to Suriname. She sketched her illustrations in vegetable gardens, on the banks of rivers, in the jungle, and in the fields of sugar plantations. When enslaved Indigenous people in the city learned about her project, they began bringing her interesting plants and insects and shared what they knew about the specimens. Her book would not have been possible without the knowledge and guidance of enslaved Indigenous people. Learn more about the .
Expanding Entomological and Ecological Knowledge
Most of Merian’s observations were new to Western science. Prior to Merian’s work, European scientists believed insects were created through a process of “spontaneous generation.” The spontaneous generation theory emerged in Ancient Greece and had been popular for thousands of years. According to this theory, rotten meat created maggots, old wool created moths, garbage created caterpillars, and other insects grew from dew and mud. The spontaneous generation theory was based on observation. Scientists observed that garbage with no caterpillars on it would become covered in caterpillars, but they did not see the caterpillars travel to the garbage from somewhere else. Therefore, they concluded the caterpillars had been created from the garbage. Watch this Close Looking at the H video to learn how Merian’s work advanced entomological thinking.
Plate 72 in Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Maria Sibylla Merian, 1730, printed book. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. 145365.
Merian’s work also offered a unique perspective on the interconnectedness of the natural world. European naturalists working during Merian’s time studied organisms in isolation and focused on creating narrow categorizations for organisms. Merian was not interested in classification. Instead, she was interested in studying how organisms interact with each other throughout their lives. The insects in her illustrations are shown alongside the plants where she found them, and the illustrations include the other insects and animals she found near the same plant. Merian’s illustrations encouraged readers to consider ecology, not just biology, when studying organisms.
Use the questions and prompts below to guide your analysis of one (or more) of Merian’s illustrations.
Questions & Prompts
Choose one of the above illustrations. Allow the prompts and questions below to guide your observation. Once you’re done, you can choose a second illustration and repeat the process. Compare your responses for the two illustrations. You can also compare your responses to those of a peer.
- Look closely at this illustration. What do you notice first? What do you notice after looking for a full minute?
- How did Merian use observations of the natural world when creating this work?
- How did Merian use her imagination and creativity when creating this work?
- Does this work remind you of anything? What? Why?
- What do you think Merian was trying to communicate? What do you see in the object that makes you think that?
- How does Merian’s culture affect her understanding of natural history and science?
- Write a scientific description of the insects and plants based on what you see in Merian’s illustration.
Consider Color
In the 1730 edition of this book, Merian’s publishers included both uncolored and colored versions of each illustration. Use the questions and prompts below to consider the effect color has on Merian’s work:
Questions & Prompts
- Look closely at the uncolored illustration. What is the first thing you notice? What holds your attention? Now look closely at the colored illustration. Did the same things catch your eye? Did the same things interest you?
- What similarities do you notice between the uncolored and colored version? What differences do you notice between the uncolored and colored version?
- Is there anything you can learn about the plant or the insects by looking at the colored version that you cannot learn by looking at the uncolored version?
- Is there anything you can learn about the plant or the insects by looking at the uncolored version that you cannot learn by looking at the colored version?
- Select one of Merian’s color illustrations from the “Expanding Entomological and Ecological Knowledge” section. Create an artwork showing what you think the uncolored version of that illustration looks like. Consider the role shading will play in your black and white rendition.
References and Resources
Boomer, Lee. n.d. “Life Story: Maria Sibylla Merian.” Women & the American Story. Accessed May 4, 2022. https://wams.nyhistory.org/early-encounters/dutch-colonies/maria-sibylla-merian/.
Botanical Art & Artists. n.d. “About Maria Sibylla Merian.” n.d. Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.botanicalartandartists.com/about-maria-sibylla-merian.html.
The Government of the Republic of Suriname. 2019. “History.” Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.gov.sr/over-suriname/historie/.
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs. n.d. “Indigenous Peoples in Suriname.” Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.iwgia.org/en/suriname.html.
The J. Paul Getty Museum. n.d. “Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters: Women of Art and Science.” Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/merian/.
The Linnean Society of London. n.d. “Maria Sibylla Merian.” Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.linnean.org/learning/biomedia/art-in-science/maria-sibylla-merian.
Natural History Museum. n.d. “Maria Sibylla Merian: Metamorphosis Unmasked by Art and Science.” Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/maria-sibylla-merian-metamorphosis-art-and-science.html.
Smithsonian Institution. n.d. “Maria Sibylla Merian.” Accessed May 4, 2022. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/maria-sibylla-merian.
Wulf, Andrea. 2016. “The Woman Who Made Science Beautiful.” The Atlantic. January 19, 2016. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/the-woman-who-made-science-beautiful/424620/.
