The merchants often had greenhouses with exotic flowers from which she created her designs. Title plate from Maria Sibylla Merian's New Book of Flowers, 1680 Illustration of a Turk's cap lily (Lilium ...

In the 17th century, it has been widely believed that insects were just spontaneously born of mud, dirt, or rotting flesh, but that notion has been changed to what we know today, thanks to Maria ...

The book caused a sensation across Europe. Merian was one of ... as a mere producer of flower water colours. In recent years, her reputation is rightly being restored. Ms Campetella, what fascinates ...