The personality featured on this maxi card issued in Germany, is Maria Sibylla Merian (2 April 1647 – 13 January 1717) who was a German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator, a descendent of the Frankfurt branch of the Swiss Merian family, founders of one of Europe's largest publishing houses in the
17th century.
Merian received her artistic training from her stepfather, Jacob Marrel, a student of the still life painter Georg Flegel. She remained in Frankfurt until 1670, relocating subsequently to Nuremberg, Amsterdam and West Friesland. Merian published her first book of natural illustrations, titled Neues Blumenbuch, in 1675 at age 28. In 1699, following eight years of painting and studying, and on the
encouragement of Cornelis van Aerssen van
Sommelsdijck, the then-governor of the
South American Dutch colony of Surinam, Merian was awarded a grant by the city of Amsterdam to travel to
Surinam with her daughter Dorothea. After two years there, she
was forced return to Europe as result of malaria. She then proceeded to publish her major work, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, in 1705, for which she became famous. Because of her careful
observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly, she is considered among the most significant contributors to the field
of entomology.Thank you Maria for this card.
