During the 17th and early 18th centuries, women were treated poorly. Men's jobs were painting, engraving, and studying insects, even going to school. Women's jobs were to do the housekeeping and take care of their husbands; they didn't have to love him though. Maria Merian had a very exciting life full of amazing discoveries. Maria Merian's curiosity and her love of art drew her to study insects. She triumphed by developing a better understanding of metamorphosis. The tragedy was that the scientific community wouldn't accept her work because she was a woman and she was self-taught. She revolutionized the field of entomology, and her studies are still used today.
There were many things in her early life that influenced her to go into studying insects, also called Entomology. According to Britannica.com, when Maria was three her father, Matthäus Merian, died and she was instead raised by her mother and her stepfather, who was a still-life painter by the name of Jacob Marrel. Maria studied painting under the teaching of her stepfather at the family's home in Frankfurt. After that, Britannica.com also says, when she was about 13, she started her own caterpillar collection in order to study insects' transformation into butterflies. Even in the first years of her research, her observations and illustrations of insects and plants in various life stages were remarkable for their scientific quality. Lastly, according to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, her step-father spent hours teaching Maria the art of flower painting. Maria then developed a fascination with insects and began to obsessively study them. To her mother's displeasure, her step-father encouraged Maria, which was considered to be an inappropriate subject for proper young ladies of the 1600s. Maria Merian's fascination with insects at a young age led up to her studying insects when she was older.
Maria Merian made many discoveries in the scientific field. Firstly, Britannica.com says, Maria started her own caterpillar collection in order to study insects' transformation into butterflies. Even in the first years of her research, her observations and illustrations of insects and plants in various life stages were remarkable for their scientific quality. Also, Britannica.com states, Maria published the first volume of Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumen-Nahrung which means, Caterpillars, Their Wondrous Transformation and Peculiar Nourishment from Flowers. The second volume came out in 1683. In it, she depicted in detail the metamorphosis of moths and butterflies. Lastly, according to the Encyclopedia of World Biology, Maria created watercolor engravings of popular flowers. These illustrations were published between 1675 and 1680. She made the books into a three-volume called Blumenbuch. It was later reprinted with 36 plates and a preface as New Book of Flowers (Neues Blumenbuch). Maria Merian worked very hard to achieve her goals and has made many discoveries.
Maria Merian impacted the scientific fields in many ways. According to the Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, a number of other books with her observations and illustrations were published posthumously. Her careful research, combined with her exquisite pictorial studies, mostly in watercolor, earned her considerable esteem. The British Museum has two volumes of her drawings. Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia also states, Her remarkable painting of a Surinam bird-eating spider was ridiculed as a flight of female fancy until 1863 when an English naturalist observed a similar Amazonian spider. Lastly, according to the Encyclopedia of World Biography, Maria died of a stroke in Amsterdam on January 13, 1717. Her daughter Dorothea Maria sold all of her mother's work to Johanned Oosterwijk, a publisher in Amsterdam. In the same year Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, bought 300 of her paintings and opened the first art museum in Russia in order to display them. Maria Merian has impacted generations of people with her work and research.
Maria Merian's curiosity and her love of art drew her to study insects. She triumphed by developing a better understanding of metamorphosis. The tragedy was the scientific community wouldn't accept her work because she was a woman and she was self-taught. She revolutionized the field of entomology, and her studies are still used today. First, I explained that Maria Merian started to have a passion for studying insects at a very young age. Then, I talked about how what kind of research and work she did. Last, I described how her work impacted what we know about science today. Maria Merian made many discoveries to help advance the fields of science.
Bibliography
"Maria Sibylla Merian." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 26 Jan. 2017. school-eb-com.proxy.elm4you.org/levels/high/article/Maria-Sibylla-Merian/543595. Accessed 29 Nov. 2018.
"Maria Sibylla Merian." Encyclopedia of World Biography, vol. 20, Gale, 2000. Research in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/K1631007561/MSIC?u=mnkchaskae&sid=MSIC&xid=c726ea51. Accessed 3 Dec. 2018.
"Merian, Maria Sibylla." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia™, Columbia University Press, 2018. Research in Context, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A69215401/MSIC?u=mnkchaskae&sid=MSIC&xid=7ec86676. Accessed 18 Dec. 2018.
YOU ARE READING
Things that I have written
RandomSome short stories and things that I have written over the years. Most things are not finished. Have fun reading! A lot of this is weird, and after re-reading some of these, I'm genuinely concerned about how my mental health was when I was younger...
