“The highlight for me was the unforgettable experience of being invited to the Museum’s Rare Books Library and meeting with their Special Collections Manager, Andrea Hart, where an array of priceless rare books had been prepared for the design team to look through from the archives. I was particularly delighted to (carefully) leaf through their illustrated nature studies of botany, entomology and ornithology.”
- Vanessa Radley, Creative Director
Forming a connection over our shared love of the natural world, a striking story unfolded whilst delving in the treasure trove of the Natural History Museum’s special collections. Here we discovered the life work of entomologist, Maria Sibylla Merian and her daughter, Johanna Helena Herolt, both pioneering artists of flora & fauna.
A leading entomologist of her time, Merian had aspirations that surpassed social conventions bestowed upon a woman of the 17th century, going on to revolutionise the scientific community’s understanding of the life cycle of insects and the discovery of metamorphosis.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum) with a butterfly's life cycle, plate 9 from Insects of Suriname, 1726 edition
Carolina sphinx moth sucking nectar from a peacock flower. Plate 45 from Insects of Suriname, 1726 edition.