MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)
Branch of Nipple Fruit with Leaf Mantis and Bean Leaf Skeletonizer
1702-03RCIN 921181
Merian combined a number of insects in this drawing, among them a maggot crawling up the stem of the plant. She was eager to witness the life cycle of this maggot, having been promised it would become a grasshopper, but her specimen died. She illustrated it, nonetheless, ‘in order to give other enthusiasts the incentive to find out about it for themselves.’