Caterpillars, Butterflies, and Flower

When Merian returned home from Suriname in 1701 she was suffering from malaria and mental exhaustion after two years of work in South America. She was not able to incise her own copperplates so the prints could be made for Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamesium, and entrusted this job to a talented team of engravers. They studied the watercolors Merian had completed in Suriname and created intaglio prints using a combination of etching and engraving, such as Caterpillars, Butterflies, and Flower. The images were then hand-colored following Merian's original watercolor. A large group of the original Suriname watercolors are held in the collection of the British Museum in London.