Lifecycle of the night peacock butterfly

Born into an elite family, Maria Sibylla Merian was a German naturalist well-known for her botanical and insect illustrations. She spent her youth studying insects, and went on to produce a series containing detailed drawings of insect metamorphosis. She is thought to be one of the first people to document the full life cycle of butterflies. As did many early modern artists, Merian oversaw a workshop of apprentices, including her daughters, one of whom may have illustrated this depiction of the peacock butterfly’s life cycle. From 1799 to 1801, Merian traveled through Dutch Suriname with permission from the Dutch West India company, documenting animal and plant species. Merian is known as the first European woman to undertake such a voyage. She drew on the knowledge of Indigenous and enslaved African people in Suriname, part of the larger colonial appropriation of the botanical knowledge of colonized people.