Maria Sibylla Merian: New Book of Flowers

More than three centuries after it was published, this is a collection of floral engravings, remarkable for its scientific accuracy, brilliant colours and delicate beauty. Merian abandoned traditional modes of illustration known in the 16th and 17th-century botanical treatises for more comprehensive balanced compositions. Combining botanical accuracy with artistic quality she moved away from the method favoring single illustrations and instead fused tulips, peonies and lilies into a cacophony of color and detail. Merian recorded the beauty of these flowers meticulously, often emphasising their relationship to their natural surroundings by including butterflies, caterpillars, or insects in the work