Courtesy of the Harn Museum of Art, Photography by Foad Seyed Mohammadi

Plate 18

Artist Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647 - 1717)

Date1705

MediumEngraving, hand colored

DimensionsMat: 22 x 18 in., (55.9 x 45.7 cm,)
Paper: 19 1/4 x 13 3/4 in. (48.9 x 34.9 cm)
Image: 15 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (39.4 x 31.8 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineMuseum purchase, funds provided by Kevin and Margaret Harrington

Object number2010.27.3

Collections

PRINTS AND DRAWINGS BEFORE 1850

DescriptionOne tarantula eating a Ruby-topaz hummingbird, and one tarantula eating a smaller species of ant on a defoliated tree; two other large spiders (kleptoparasites? [thief spiders]) in their webs, one with spiderlings; more ants of varying sizes crawl along the tree and attack a beetle. Plate 18 from "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium", Amsterdam, 1705.