Vanilla
1719
Maria Sibylla Merian wasn't just painting pretty flowers; she was documenting the circle of life centuries before it was cool. In this 1719 illustration of a vanilla plant (labeled 'Banille'), she captures the entire metamorphosis of a butterfly—from the spiky pink caterpillar munching on a leaf to the chrysalis hanging below and the vibrant pink butterfly taking flight. Merian was a scientific rockstar who traveled to the jungles of Surinam at age 52 to study insects firsthand, debunking the idea that bugs spontaneously generated from mud. This plate, engraved by Pieter Sluyter based on her work, shows her obsession with connecting plants to the insects that eat them.
- Technique
- Hand-colored engraving
- Material
- Paper
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