Plate No.23 Banana with Butterflies

Article description

Copper engraving, finely hand colored, published in the famous series 'Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der Surinaemsche Insecten' by Maria Sibylla Merian. A fine engraving from Maria Sibylla Merian's classic work. Maria Sibylla Merian, daughter of the German engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian, devoted herself to the study of European insects and their metamorphoses. As a result of the wealth of tropical varieties being brought back by the Dutch West Indies Company, she decided to visit the Dutch colony of Surinam herself to study and paint the insect life there. She sailed with her daughter Dorothea in June 1699 from Amsterdam and remained in Surinam until 1701. Also Maria Sibylla Merian's elder daughter Johanna went to Surinam to complete her mothers work. Most of the plates were engraved by P. Sluyter and J. Mulder, some by P. Stoopendal.