The Rijksmuseum has acquired a first edition of Maria Sibylla Merian’s Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, her illustrated natural history of Suriname. Published in 1705, Merian’s masterpiece is a high point of Dutch book production in the eighteenth century and was selected as one of the 100 masterpieces of Dutch and Flemish art in the CODART Canon. The acquisition fulfills a long-held wish of the Rijksmuseum. Good copies of the first edition from 1705 rarely appear on the market.

German-born artist and naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) had an exceptional eye for the beauty of insects, which she captured in detailed drawings. She was the first person to record the transformation of the caterpillar into a butterfly in its natural habitat. Her interest in the study of insects began at a young age. She bred caterpillars herself, and made sketches of details such as the pupation phase and the plants on which the butterflies lived. After briefly living in a Labadist Protestant community in Friesland, she settled in Amsterdam. In 1699 she travelled with her youngest daughter Dorothea Graff to Suriname, where she studied insects. On her return to the Netherlands she worked on Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, her iconic work that would be published in 1705.

Merian published her first edition of Metamorphosis in 1705 in Amsterdam, binding the illustrations along with text in either Latin or Dutch, depending on the buyer’s preference. The book contains 60 hand-colored plates depicting creatures such as caterpillars, butterflies and spiders in deep, contrasting colors and rich hues. The book also notably contains descriptions of the circumstances in which she collected information, revealing that Merian drew on the knowledge of enslaved people and the original inhabitants of Suriname.