Plate 18 from Merian's 'Insectorum Surinamensium' showing leafcutter ants, and bird eating spiders
Maria Sibylla Merian and William Chinnery1719
University of Sydney Library
Camperdown, Australia
This image was created by Merian from observations made between 1699 and 1701 while she travelled Suriname.
It appears in second edition of 'Mariae Sibillae Merian Dissertatio de generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium'. The accompanying text was originally written in Latin by Merian, and in the University of Sydney Library copy, has also been translated into English by Dutch botanist Caspar Commelin (1667? - 1731).
In this description for this plate, Merian describes leafcutter ants, and bird eating spiders.
Full title: 'Mariae Sibillae Merian Dissertatio de generatione et metamorphosibus insectorum Surinamensium: in quâ, praeter vermes & erucas Surinamenses, earumque admirandam metamorphosin, plantae, flores & fructus, quibus vescuntur, & in quibus fuerunt inventae, exhibentur : his adjunguntur bufones, lacerti, serpentes, araneae, aliaque admiranda istius regionis animalcula'
- Title: Plate 18 from Merian's 'Insectorum Surinamensium' showing leafcutter ants, and bird eating spiders
- Creator: Maria Sibylla Merian, William Chinnery
- Creator Lifespan: 1647/1717
- Creator Nationality: German
- Creator Gender: Female
- Creator Death Place: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Creator Birth Place: Frankfurt, Germany
- Date Created: 1719
- Location: Suriname
- Location Created: Amsternam, Netherlands
- Physical Dimensions: 49 cm
- Original Language: Latin, English
- Provenance: Item 164 in a catalog (29 May 1749) of bookseller Thomas Osborne (1704-1767). Osborne was one of the great booksellers of the XVIIIc, who bought large libraries en masse and sold them via catalog at set prices rather than by auction. Its purchaser, perhaps, was Philip Wenman, 6th Viscount Wenman (1719-1760) or his son the 7th viscount., Acquired by the University of Sydney Library in 2023
- Type: Book
- Publisher: Joannem Oosterwyk
- Original Source: University of Sydney Library, RB Folio 6219.6
- External Link: View the digitised version
- Medium: Book, Hand coloured engraving
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
Interested in Natural history?
Get updates with your personalized Culture Weekly
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.