Here we have yet another uppity broad, Maria Sibylla Merian.
Born in Germany in 1647 living in the Netherlands until her death in 1717. She keep the house and raised the kids
like women are supposed to, but also had the temerity to go bugging. Watching insects, recording observations, and
drawing pictures like a male botanist, naturalist or entomologist would do.
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At a time when natural history was a valuable tool for discovery, Merian discovered facts about plants and insects that were not previously known. Her observations helped dispel the popular belief that insects spontaneously emerged from mud. The knowledge she collected over decades didn’t just satisfy those curious about nature, but also provided valuable insights into medicine and science. She was the first to bring together insects and their habitats, including food they ate, into a single ecological composition.
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After years of pleasing a captivated audience across Europe with books of detailed descriptions and life-size paintings of familiar insects, in 1699 she sailed with her daughter nearly 5,000 miles from the Netherlands to South America to study insects in the jungles of what is now known as Suriname. She was 52. The result was her magnum opus, “Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium.”
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In her work, she revealed a side of nature so exotic, dramatic and valuable to Europeans of the time that she received much acclaim. But a century later, her findings came under scientific criticism. Shoddy reproductions of her work along with setbacks to women’s roles in 18th- and 19th-century Europe resulted in her efforts being largely forgotten.
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Today, the pioneering woman of the sciences has re-emerged. In recent years, feminists, historians and artists have all praised Merian’s tenacity,
talent and inspirational artistic compositions. And now biologists like Dr. Etheridge are digging into the scientific texts that accompanied her art.
Three hundred years after her death, Merian will be celebrated at an international symposium in Amsterdam this June.
And last month, “Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium” was republished. It contains 60 plates and original descriptions, along with stories
about Merian’s life and updated scientific descriptions.
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See, thanks to those damn feminists spiders will be eating hummingbirds.
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