I just finished reading “The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian’s Art Changed Science”.
Overview of Maria Merian’s story
It’s about another amazing woman who I had never heard of before. It was recommended to me by a friend who knows that I am fascinated by insects. But not as much as Maria Merian.
She was born in Frankfurt, Germany in 1647 into a family of artists–printers and engravers to be exact. But her father died when she was young and her mother remarried an artist who focussed on the new-fangled subjects of flowers, food, and pottery–he was one of the early painters to paint still lifes. There she saw lots of flowers, and the insects who lived on them. Her stepfather liked to paint the bugs along with the flowers. She was fascinated by the bugs. In those days, people didn’t know where insects came from. Sidman says,
Some said they grew from old things–flies grew forom old meat, moths from old wool. Some believed that sunshine shrank drops of dew into eggs, which hatched into maggots. Still others felt that fire, as it leapt into the air, produced stinging wasps. When butterflies appeared in the spring, people called them “summer birds,” assuming they had flown in from elsewhere.
But Maria didn’t believe that bugs came out of nothing. She observed in the garden and brought in cocoons and egg sacs to watch what happened. She observed what plants she found the insects on, so she could provide them with the food they needed.
Through years of careful observation and recording–with paintings, there were no cameras in those days–while she married, had children, left her husband to live in a religious community, and more–she continued, at least most of her life to learn more about these insects. All this happened in a time when women didn’t have much freedom or chance to become educated.
She went to South America on a boat, with her daughter, in a time when women didn’t travel alone. She had heard about the amazing insects there and wanted to see for herself. She found fascinating insects and recorded their life cycles. She became ill and returned to Europe sooner than she wanted to. But she brought with her the first serious study of insects from that part of the world.
She published books in which she showed the entire life cycle of insects. They were amazingly detailed and beautifully colored. Her work turned out to be influential–Linnaeus used her work to help them identify species. Other naturalists referred to her work as well.
Author and Poet Joyce Sidman produces another beautiful book
The story is beautifully told. The chapters follow the life cycle of the butterfly, from “egg” in chapter 1 back to “egg” at the end, with hatching, instars and more in between. Each chapter has a poem about the life stage–that refers to the butterfly and also to Maria’s life. She uses her own photographs and Maria’s artwork and other artwork from that time to illustrate this story. The story of Maria’s life is interspersed with interesting facts about the time she lived in.
All in all, it’s a fascinating book for young readers–and grown-up readers, too.
It’s already gotten awards and starred review, that you can find out about on Sidman’s website.
That’s it for now.
Thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
