- Also known as
-
Maria Sibylla Merian
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primary name: Merian, Maria Sibylla
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other name: Graff, Maria Sibylla
- Details
- individual; painter/draughtsman; printmaker; German; Female
- Life dates
- 1647-1717
- Biography
- Flower and insect painter, and engraver after her own drawings. Born Frankfurt on the Main 1647, died Amsterdam 1717. Daughter of Matthäus Merian the Elder. Married Johann Andreas Graff in 1668 (separated in 1681) and had two daughters, Johanna Helena and Dorothea who both worked with their mother and painted in her style. Moved to Nuremberg in 1670, Frankfurt in 1685, and to Amsterdam in 1690. Voyage to Surinam 1699-1701, whence the material for her book 'Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium' in 1705.
- Bibliography
- E. Rücker & W.T. Stearn; 'Maria Sibylla Merian: commentary to the facsimile edition of Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (Amsterdam 1705) based on original watercolours in the Royal Library Windsor Castle', 2 vols. London 1982; S. Valient; “Maria Sibylla Merian: Recovering an Eighteenth-Century Legend”; Eighteenth Century Studies 26 (1993), pp 467-479; K. Wettengl (ed.) 'Maria Sibylla Merian 1647-1717 Artist and Naturalist' Ostfildern 1998; E. Hollmann (editor), 'Maria Sibylla Merian, The St Petersburg Watercolours', Munich, Berlin, London, 2003; J. Harvey; 'Maria Sibylla Merian: The Surinam Album' introduction to The Folio Society facsimile; London 2006; K.Schmidt-Loske, 'Die Tierwelt der Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717); Arten, Beschreibungen und Illustrationen', Marburg, 2007; E. Reitsma; 'Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters: Women of Art and Science'; exh.cat. Amsterdam, The Rembrandt House and Los Angeles, The J.Paul Getty Museum 2008; Michael Roth, Magdalena Bushart and Martin Sonnabend, 'Maria Sibylla Merian und die Tradition des Blumenbildes', exhibition catalogue, Staatliche Museen Kupferstichkabinett Berlin and Städel Museum, Frankfurt, 2017.
