Maria Sibylla Merian

Maria Sibylla Merian was an German-born naturist and nature illustrator.
She was often referred to as Anna Maria Sibylla.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Maria_Sibylla_Merian_portrait_from_500DM_banknote.png < image reference at this link.

She is known for her illustrations based on plant life, and insects. Her insect work focuses a lot on the transformation of insects, through the process of metamorphosis, and her work contributed to the advance of entomology, and credited to it greatly in the late 17th & 18th centuries.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Avicularia-avicularia.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://www.bandagedear.com/image/view/rosa-centrifolia-bullata-by-pierre-joseph-redoute-47545 < image reference at this link.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU5KanfhENd0lnbx0QKY1AptXlUCtQsLLST-LSWBIZ4hNrBu9mHI6L5O8i0RAXW15ZTnaWIKYDqg3UlsFeF5eaI5phVIrOMXCiw8VI6BCoRAAKCSN9S0Oph7Wci3_Ka7SjDNhv7lEU9KaN/s1600/Merian-Maria-Sibylla-Three-tulips-Sun.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://www.discoveryeditions.com/images/data/FAR_PRODUCT/frame_image/37-1.JPG < image reference at this link.

http://artcove.co.uk/wp-content/greeting-cards/maria-sybilla-merian-pomegranate.jpg < image reference at this link.

https://www.theantiquarium.com/data/uploads/big-images/merian_roselle_1.jpg < image reference at this link.

http://www.wikigallery.org/paintings/261501-262000/261783/painting1.jpg < image reference at this link.

Above you can see some examples of her work, that includes her visual style.
they are very classical in style, one which I really love.

Interestingly, her father, Matthäus Merian, was a renowned illustrator. after his death, she was raised by her mother and stepfather, Jacob Marrel, who was a still-life painter.
Merian studied painting at the family's Frankfurt home, and collected insects, as well as other specimens, including plants and fungi.
One of her favourite insects to collect, was caterpillars.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Merian_Metamorphosis_LX.jpg < image reference at this link.

She began her own caterpillar collection, and witnessed them closely as they matured into butterflies.
She made remarkable gains in the field of the study of insects, and her illustrations were renowned for their level of detail, as well as their high quality.

http://womenswork.lindahall.org/pix/merian8.jpg < image reference at this link.

Note the very high level of detail found on one of her illustrations above.

She published the first volume of "Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumen-nahrung", translated as “Caterpillars, Their Wondrous Transformation and Peculiar Nourishment from Flowers”, in which the second volume appeared in 1683.
Both books featured in detail the process of metamorphosis, and focused on moths and butterflies.
She was highly credited for this, and she brought about a new standard of scientific illustration.

I am a big fan of her work, and I really think that my concepts will be influenced by her work, as well as the other botanical illustrators that I have research over the course of my research blogs.

http://www.briefmarken-bilder.de/brd-briefmarken-1987-bilder/maria-sibylla-merian-kuenstlerin.jpg < image reference at this link.

Thomas.