Maria Sibylla Merian

Merian was one of the most celebrated naturalists and scientific illustrators of her age. In 1699, she traveled from Amsterdam to Suriname, then a Dutch colony, in South America. While the artist was particularly interested in studying the metamorphosis of insects, she also depicted plants and animals native to the land. The expedition resulted in the publication of the “Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium” (1705), a groundbreaking treatise that described and illustrated, through etchings, many species previously unknown in Europe. The second edition, published posthumously in 1719, included illustrations of Surinamese reptiles, such as the Black Tegu (plate 70), one of the largest lizards in the world. Long considered to be a preparatory modello for that print, the Morgan sheet is, in fact, a colored counterproof on vellum. It was made by pulling a fresh impression from the original plate, placing a sheet of vellum on top of the print, and running the two sheets through the printing press the second time. This resulted in a delicate rendering of the outline, which the artist (or, in some cases, her daughters) could then rework with watercolor and opaque watercolor. The expensive support and the care which the artist took in describing the lizard's body and the texture and pattern of its scales suggest that it was made for a descriminating client. Two other colored counterproofs of the Black Tegu can be found in English collections: in an album previously owned by an English physician Richard Mead (1673-1754), now held by the Royal Collection (inv. no. RCIN 921219), and in an album that once belonged to a naturalist and collector Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), now at the British Museum (inv. no. SL,5275.62). For a full assessment of both technical and aesthetic implications of Merian's counterproof process, see Stephanie Schrader, Nancy Turner, and Nancy Yocco, "Naturalism under the Microscope: A Technical Study of Maria Sibylla Merian's Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam," Getty Research Journal, no. 4 (2012), pp. 161-171.