Maria Sibylla Merian: 17^thCentury Naturalist

In the year 1699 then-52-year-old Maria Sybylla Merian crossed the Atlantic Ocean to study the plants and animals in Dutch Suriname. The professional artist and naturalist had financed the expedition herself. Even more extraordinary in the days when science was almost the exclusive preserve of men, she was a divorced woman with two daughters.

Merian was, however, an extraordinary woman. Born in Germany in 1647, she was trained by her step-father as a professional artist. As with so many young women of her birth and upbringing, she later recorded, "In my youth, I spent my time investigating insects." Like numerous females of her class, she became fascinated with lepidoptera. Unlike others, though, she studied them in depth, recording her observations and illustrating them. As an article in Science Daily observed, she became the first to accurately portray the metamorphosis of butterflies and moths and emphasis the intimate relationship between insects and their host plants, publishing her first book aged 28. Her successes in unravelling natural history were not repeated in domestic life. Her marriage (1665-92) proved a disaster. Although she bore husband Johann Andreas Graff two daughters, it was not happy relationship. Relocating to Holland in 1685 until 1688 she lived with along with her daughters and mother at a Labadist religious community in Friesland. There she taught herself Latin, essential for science in those days and studied natural history. Following the divorce by her husband in 1691, she moved to Amsterdam, supporting herself with her paintings. Presumably she trained her daughters to join her in illustrating natural history. In later years they were to join her professionally. Indeed some works originally attributed to Frau Merian and now known to have been painted by one or other the daughters. It was an extraordinary achievement though for a divorced woman in her day and age. Even more extraordinary was her decision at the age of 52 to self-finance with the sale of some 250 of her paintings a scientific exploration to examine the entomology and botany of then-Dutch Suriname in northeastern South America. On receiving permission for her venture from the Dutch authorities, she set off in 1699 with her youngest daughter, Dorothea Maria, on what she planned to be a five-year expedition.

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It lasted but two. In 1701 she was forced by malaria to retreat back to Amsterdam. But in that short time she recorded a wealth of fauna and flora. The volume she published upon her return to Amsterdam accurately depicted 60 species of plants and 90 species of animals in such detail that most may be identified today. Better yet, she also published in Dutch and German allowing the ordinary citizen to appreciate science studies. It has been suggested that this made her one of the earliest science communicators. This, as far too often in scientific endeavours, failed to bring her adequate renumeration. Sadly, Maria Sibylla Merian's health declined. In 1715 she suffered a stroke and became partially paralyzed. She died in poverty on 13 January 1717, according to the death register. Dead but far from forgotten. Merian is commemorated in a number of species. In plants, a bulbil bugle-lily from South Africa, Watsonia meriana bears her name as does the bee orchid Eulaema meriana. Just last year a new and exceedingly rare Panamanian black butterfly, Catasticta sibyllae, was named in memory of her contributions to entomology. Something perhaps to remember 8 March, International Women's Day.