The Flowering of Ecology

Maria Sibylla Merian's Caterpillar Book
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-90-04-28479-1
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, 386 Seiten, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 242 mm, Gewicht: 853 g

Reihe: Emergence of natural history

The Flowering of Ecology presents an English translation of Maria Sibylla Merian’s 1679 ‘caterpillar’ book, Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung und sonderbare Blumen–Nahrung. Her processes in making the book and an analysis of its scientific content are presented in a historical context. Merian raised insects for five decades, recording the food plants, behavior and ecology of roughly 300 species. Her most influential invention was an 'ecological' composition in which the metamorphic cycles of insects (usually moths and butterflies) were arrayed around plants that served as food for the caterpillars. Kay Etheridge analyzes the 1679 caterpillar book from the viewpoint of a biologist, arguing that Merian’s study of insect interactions with plants, the first of its kind, was a formative contribution to natural history.

Read Kay Etheridge’s blogpost on “Art Herstory”.

See inside the book.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Etheridge, Kay

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstformen, Kunsthandwerk Malerei: Gemälde
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Wirbellose (Invertebrata) Insekten (Entomologie)
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Europäische Länder
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Botanik Pflanzenökologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword

Brian Ogilvie

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of Illustrations

part 1: The Flowering of Ecology

1 Before the Transformation

Introduction

Art and Science Intertwined

Drawings/Manuscripts

Still Life Painting

Finding God in Nature

Natural History of Insects in Printed Works

Publishing Illustrated Natural History Books

Studies of Metamorphosis

2 A Life Investigated

Growing up in Frankfurt am Main

Early Fascination with Insects

Marriage and the Move to Nuremberg

The Flower Books

Beginnings of the Raupen Books

Merian’s Motivations

3 Described and Painted from Life

Fieldwork: The Basis of Merian’s Empirical Studies

Laboratory Work

Merian’s Study Journal

Merian’s Other Sources of Information

Illustrating the Raupen Book

Composing the Images

Making the Plates

Merian’s Counterproofs

Composing the Text of Her Book

Financing, Printing and Marketing the Raupen Book

4 For the Benefit of Naturalists

The Rupsen Books

The Last Caterpillar Book

Later Editions and Their Lasting Effects

Recognition and Reception by Near Contemporaries

Merian’s Influence on Natural History

Merian’s Reputation as a Naturalist

part 2: Plates, Translation and Commentary

Maria Sibylla Merian’s Caterpillar Book

Appendix: Translation of Selected Entries from Maria Sibylla Merian’s Study Journal

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Kay Etheridge Ph.D. (1986), University of Florida, is a Professor of Biology at Gettysburg College. She has published articles and book chapters on physiological ecology and on the influence of images in the history of biology.