![Half height banner for Maria Merian exhibition, showing a butterfly](https://cmsadmin.rct.uk/sites/default/files/lead_image_half_height/Merian_narrow_exhibition.jpg)
MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)
Banana with Teucer Owl Butterfly and Rainbow Whiptail Lizard
1702-03RCIN 921178
Although Merian’s drawings are impressive scientific plates, she was also alert to the aesthetic appeal of her illustrations. Alongside this depiction of the life cycle of a Teucer Owl Butterfly (Caligo teucer), she included a Rainbow Whiptail Lizard (Cnemidophorus lemniscatus) ‘chiefly to decorate the plate’.