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Exhibitions
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Exhibition
![]() Maria Sibylla Merian, Red Beetle, White Morning Glory, hand-colored etching and engraving, The Minnich Collection, The Ethel Morrison Van DerLip Fund, 1966 Metamorphosis: Maria Sibylla Merian’s Insects of SurinameSaturday, December 22, 2007Sunday, June 15, 2008 In 1699, Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) sailed to Suriname to draw and study the insects of the rain forest. She was particularly fascinated by the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies and moths, and her images reveal their successive stages of development from egg to caterpillar, pupa, and mature adult. The book that resulted from her two-year study, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Transformation of Suriname Insects), included ninety studies of insects, most drawn life-size. A pioneer in a long line of female botanical artists Merian was the first to depict insects in relation to their host plants. This exhibition features twenty of Merian’s images of Suriname, selected from the MIA's permanent collection. |
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