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Convolvulus and Metamorphosis of the Convolvulus Hawk Moth
Maria Sibylla Merian (German, active Netherlands, 1647–1717)
c. 1670–90
- Medium
- watercolor with touches of opaque watercolor over indications in black chalk or graphite on vellum
- Classification
- Drawing
- Dimensions
- Support: 41 x 54.7 x 0.2 cm (16 1/8 x 21 9/16 x 1/16 in.); Image: 28.9 x 37.2 cm (11 3/8 x 14 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- Netherlands
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Drawings
- Credit line
- John L. Severance Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
The artist Maria Sibylla Merian was one of the most important entomologists of the 17th century. Her studies of caterpillars, which she reared herself, contributed to knowledge of the life cycles of numerous species. Trained as a miniature painter by her stepfather, she combined her artistic talent with her scientific interest, creating images such as this one, which portrays the life cycle of the European pink-spotted hawk moth as well as its favorite food, the morning glory. Merian added additional caterpillar species to the sheet to create a pleasing and astonishingly detailed composition.
