{
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"tombstone": "Convolvulus and Metamorphosis of the Convolvulus Hawk Moth, c. 1670\u201390. Maria Sibylla Merian (German, active Netherlands, 1647\u20131717). Watercolor with touches of opaque watercolor over indications in black chalk or graphite on vellum; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2019.9",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Convolvulus and Metamorphosis of the Convolvulus Hawk Moth",
"creation_date": "c. 1670\u201390",
"creation_date_earliest": 1665,
"creation_date_latest": 1688,
"artists_tags": [
"female"
],
"culture": [
"Netherlands"
],
"technique": "watercolor with touches of opaque watercolor over indications in black chalk or graphite on vellum",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Drawings",
"collection": "DR - Swiss",
"type": "Drawing",
"measurements": "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.)",
"dimensions": {
"image": {
"height": 0.289,
"height_inch": 11,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.375,
"width": 0.372,
"width_inch": 14,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.625
},
"support": {
"height": 0.41,
"height_inch": 16,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.125,
"width": 0.547,
"width_inch": 21,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.5625,
"depth": 0.002,
"depth_inch": 0,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.0625
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
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"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "recto, signed, lower right in brown ink: M. Sybilla Merian",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "inscribed lower right above signature in graphite: No 61 and lower left in graphite A",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "on mount, brown ink, Surinamse Liguster pylstaart Uyl met de Rups en sop and No. 45. A. and Sibilla Merian fecit 1670.",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
},
{
"inscription": "on mount, underneath sheet, inscribed, brown ink, Sibilla Merian fe.",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 454621,
"title": "Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800",
"description": "Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800. The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (co-organizer) (October 1, 2023-January 7, 2024) https://artbma.org/exhibition/making-her-mark-a-history-of-women-artists-in-europe-1400-1800; Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (co-organizer) (March 27-July 1, 2024) https://ago.ca/exhibitions/making-her-mark-history-women-artists-europe-1400-1800.",
"opening_date": "2023-10-01T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Sotheby's, London, England",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "July 7, 1999",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "Private Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1999-2019",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "March 4, 2019",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The artist who drew this life cycle of the European pink-spotted hawk moth from egg through caterpillar, pupa, and adult insect reared caterpillars in her home for 10 years before writing and illustrating a definitive text on metamorphosis.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "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.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79875813"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-2019.9-convolvulus-and-meta"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Reitsma, Ella, and Sandrine A. Ulenberg. Maria Sibylla Merian & Daughters: Women of Art and Science. Amsterdam: Rembrandt House Museum, 2008.",
"page_number": "p. 110-11",
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Peters, Emily. \u201cAcquisitions 2019: Drawings.\u201d Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 60, no. 2 (March/April 2020): 20-21.",
"page_number": "Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 20.",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Griswold, William M. \u201cRecent Acquisitions (2013-20) at the Cleveland Museum of Art.\u201d Burlington Magazine 163, no. 1414 (January 2021): 93-104.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: P. 96, no. 6",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Banta, Andaleeb Badiee, Alexa Greist, and Theresa Kutasz Christensen. Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800. Fredericton, New Brunswick : Goose Lane Editions ; Toronto, Ontario : AGO ; Baltimore, Maryland : Baltimore Museum of Art, 2023.",
"page_number": "Mentioned, pp. 111, 227, illus. (detail), p. 111, fig. 9, cat. 167, p. 230, illus., p. 230.",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.9",
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"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
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"description": "Maria Sibylla Merian (German, active Netherlands, 1647\u20131717)",
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"updated_at": "2026-05-29 08:56:36.010000"
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