Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 1647 – 13 January 1717) was a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator. She was one of the upfront European naturalists to observe insects directly. Merian was a descendant of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family.
Merian standard her artistic training from her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, a student of the nevertheless life painter Georg Flegel. Merian published her first autograph album of natural illustrations in 1675. She had started to collection insects as an adolescent. At age 13, she raised silkworms. In 1679, Merian published the first volume of a two-volume series on caterpillars; the second volume followed in 1683. Each volume contained 50 plates that she engraved and etched. Merian documented evidence on the process of metamorphosis and the reforest hosts of 186 European insect species. Along with the illustrations Merian included descriptions of their animatronics cycles.
In 1699, Merian traveled to Dutch Surinam to assay and folder the tropical insects indigenous to the region. In 1705, she published Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium. Merian’s Metamorphosis has been recognized with influencing a range of naturalist illustrators. Because of her cautious observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly, Merian is considered to be accompanied by the more significant contributors to the dome of entomology by David Attenborough. She discovered many other facts virtually insect dynamism through her studies.
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