Maria Sibylla Merian—

"Already at thirteen Maria Sibylla Merian was interested in the insect and plant world. Secretly she began to catch insects to observe them. She created the first drawings and water-color paintings of insects and plants. In the 17 century interest in insects was unusual, because humans still believed that beetles, worms, larvae and caterpillars were formed from dirt and mud.
Jacob Marell recognized the talent of his stepdaughter and fostered it. During his many long absences from Frankfurt, he entrusted the care of little Maria Sibylla Merian to his student, Abraham Mignon (1640-1679). Maria Sibylla Merian continued her research and she observed, how caterpillars pupated themselves and how out of their cocoons the most beautiful butterflies and moths appeared. She recorded the metamorphosis in all stages as detailed in her sketch book. When she was 28, she published her first book "Neues Blumenbuch" and a short time later her first caterpillar book "Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumennahrung". Both books are richly illustrated with colored copperplate prints.
Maria Sibylla Merian's special interest was the metamorphosis of the butterflies, which she tells about in her copperplate prints. Normally in the center of her drawings is a plant, that is the food basis and habitat of the caterpillar. This plant can be a garden flower, a meadow flower, a weed, or a vegetable plant.
After Maria's second marriage ended in divorce in 1685, her eldest daughter, Johanna Helena, married the merchant Jacob Herolt from Bacharach who was involved in trade with the new Dutch colony of Suriname in South America. The picture that Maria Sibylla Merain received of South America and the insight into the living world that resulted from her acquaintance with collectors in Amsterdam such as Nicholas and Jonas Witsen, Livinus Vivinus Vincent and the professor of anatomy, Frederik Ruysch, is thought, to have aroused in her the desire to take the long and perilous journey to Suriname."
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Neues Blumenbuch [New Flower Book]
The Rara Collection
Sächsische Landesbibliothek und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden
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Das kleine Buch der Tropenwunder