Related external works: reference

Maria Sibylla Merian, Grosse, hundert-blätterichte Rose / Rosa maxima, multiplex, Kupferstich, abgedruckt in: Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumen=nahrung, Nürnberg, Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig, Bd. 1, 1679, Tf. 24

Rose with Metamorphosis of Leaf Roller and a Glued Beetle Larva, after 1679

Blatt: 188 x 146 mm

Physical Description: Watercolour and gouache over transfer print on vellum

Inventory Number: 1497

Object Number: 1497 Z

Acquisition: Acquired in 1817 from the Johann Georg Grambs Collection

Status: Request for presentation in the study room of the Prints and Drawings Department

Texts

About the Work

In the text accompanying this plate of the Caterpillar Book, Maria Sibylla Merian mentioned that the little green caterpillars with black heads liked to eat the rose blossoms from the inside out, a phenomenon she also tried to convey in her depiction. What is more, she glued a real preserved specimen – a dried caterpillar – to the rose’s main blossom. Such additions can fall off very easily, as may well have been the case with other gouache drawings.