Plate 43. Swallow-tailed Butterfly and Passion Fruit.

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  SKU: 104183

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• ARTIST: Maria Sibylla Merian

• PUBLISHER: Published in Amsterdam by J. F. Bernard.

• MEDIUM: Copper plate engraving,

  DATE: c.1704-30.

• EDITION SIZE: Sheet size 19 5/8 x 14 3/8" (49.8 x 36.4 cm).

• DESCRIPTION: A fine engraving from Maria Sibylla Merian’s classic work, Over de Voortteeling en Wonderbaerlyke veranderingen der Surinaemsche Insecten, or Metamorphosis of Surinamese insects.<br><br> This print shows a Swallow-tailed Butterfly, caterpillar and pupae, and the vegetation it feeds on, in this case Passion Fruit.<br><br> Maria Sibylla Merian, daughter of the German engraver and publisher Matthaus 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. In 1699, both she and her daughter Dorothea, in travelled to Surinam, remaining there until 1701. An amazing and extremely hazardous journey for the period. Later, her elder daughter Johanna, travelled to Surinam to complete her mothers work. Most of the plates were engraved by P. Sluyter, J. Mulder and P. Stoopendal.<br><br>

• ADDITIONAL INFO: This particular plate is from the 1726 Posthumous variant printing. In earlier editions plate 43 shows Spiders, Ants, and Hummingbird on a Branch of a Guava. In this later, expanded edition, published after her death the plates were sometimes reordered or supplemented. In those specific editions, Plate 43 occasionally features a Swallow-tailed Butterfly and Passion Fruit.

• CONDITION: Good condition and color.

• REFERENCE:

• CATEGORIES: 18th-19th Century Subjects , Natural History - Animals & Insects , Butterflies & Moths