Quartermaine Hall

Artisan: Patricia Steele (Lakeside Miniatures)
Date: 2022
Intended Room: Library
Dimensions: TBC
Inventory number: 2022.149.1-5

Provenance: Purchased directly from the artist via eBay.

This five-volume set contains the works of Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717), one of the earliest naturalists to observe insects from life, and a remarkable early female artist. Talent was in her blood, as her father was the Swiss engraver Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593-1650), and she also benefitted from the teaching of her stepfather, the still life artist Jacob Marrel (c.1613-1681). She began painting in her early teens and, ten years after her 1665 marriage, she published her first etymological books, based on first-hand examination of specimens which she had often collected herself.

After her husband divorced her in 1692, Maria supported herself (very comfortably) by selling paintings and taking on pupils. Remarkably, in 1701, she and her daughter Dorothea Maria raised funds to travel to Surinam in South America, where Maria hoped to spend five years studying and drawing insects. As it happened, she remained there for only two years before ill health forced her back home to Amsterdam, but it’s incredible to think that a 17th-century woman in her fifties could embark on such an ambitious project. The result of her studies was this series of books, beautifully illustrated.

Patricia has reproduced the set of five volumes, illustrated with coloured plates.