
Type : colloque.
Date et horaire : du 7 au 9 juin 2017.
Lieu : Amsterdam.
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717) is one of the more intriguing figures of scientific, artistic, and commercial culture of the early modern period. Born in Frankfurt and later based in Nuremberg, Wieuwerd, and Amsterdam, her scientific interest in entomology led her eventually to Surinam, where, as in Europe, she studied the metamorphoses of insects in their natural habitat. She translated her minute observations into powerful artistic representations that still attract the attention of many scholars, such as biologists, art historians, and science historians. Modern artists and novelists also find inspiration in her work and life.
The aim of the conference is to bring together new research and projects relating to Maria Sibylla Merian. With her life and work as a focal point this conference will also explore topics that relate to Merian from a broader perspective, such as the religious context of her work, early modern book production, Merian’s social network, Surinam as a colony, and entomological research.
Programme :
Mercredi 7 juin 2017
12.00 Registration and coffee.
12.50 Introduction.
13.00 Welcome from Karen Maex, Rector Magnificus, University of Amsterdam (TBC).
13.10 Redmond O’Hanlon, Maria, the Jungle and Bird-Eating Spiders.
13.40 Kay Etheridge (Gettysburg College, Pennsylvannia), A Biologist to the Bone.
14.20 Kate Heard (Royal Collection, London), ‘One of the Most Curious Performances … That Ever Was Published’: Merian in the Royal Collection.
15.00 Tea break.
15.30 Kurt Wettengl (TU, Dortmund), Merian’s Launch Pad.
16.15 Henrietta McBurney (Art curator and author, Cambridge), The Influence of Merian’s Work on the Art and Science of Mark Catesby.
Jeudi 8 juin 2017
8.30 Registration and coffee.
8.50 Introduction.
9.00 Welcome from José van Dijk, President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and Distinguished University Professor, Utrecht University.
9.10 George McGavin (Research Associate of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History), Endless Forms Most Beautiful and Most Wonderful.
9.50 Katarina Schmidt-Loske (Research Center of Historical Biology – Biohistoricum — at the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Leibniz-Institute for Animal Biodiversity, Bonn), Pupa, Chrysalis, and Cocoon.
10.30 Coffee break.
11.00 Alicia Montoya (Radboud University, Nijmegen), Maria Sibylla Merian’s Eighteenth-Century Readers: The Evidence from Library Auction Catalogues, 1700–1800.
11.40 Anja Grebe (Danube University, Krems), Changing the Discourse of Science: New Insights on Maria Sibylla Merian’s Impact on Entomology in Nuremberg and Beyond.
12.20 Lunch break.
13.50 Parallel Sessions | Biology and Art
• Yulia Dunaeva (Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg), Using Merian’s Books to Determine Zoological Specimens from the Kunstkamera Collection.
• Carin Grabowski (Humboldt University, Berlin), Between Faithfulness and Construction: Re-assessing Merian’s Oeuvre.
• Berit Møller (Conservator at the Royal Danish Collections), A Close Study of 50 Merian Paintings.
• Jaya Remond (Max Planck Institute, Berlin), Seeing Nature Up Close: Composing Exotic Botanical Imagery in Northern Europe ca. 1600–1700.
13.50 Parallel Sessions | Network
• Liesbeth Missel (Curator Wageningen University Library), Merian, Alida Withoos, and Agnes Block: An Oral Network of Scientists, Artists, and the Elite.
• Christine Sauer (Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg), Painting Flowers with Needles.
• Florence Pieters (Former Curator Artis Library, UvA), Maria Sibylla Merian’s Additions to alba amicorum.
• Bert van de Roemer (University of Amsterdam), Merian’s Amsterdam Network.
15.10 Tea Break.
15.40 Parallel Sessions | History of Books and Collections
• Marieke van Delft (Curator Royal Library, The Hague), Surviving Copies of Merian’s 1705 Edition of Metamorphosis.
• Leslie Overstreet (Curator Smithsonian Libraries), The Editions of Merian’s Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium.
• Peter Kristiansen (Curator at the Royal Danish Collections), The Merian Drawings at Rosenborg Castle in Copenhagen.
• Hans Mulder (Curator Artis Library, UvA), Who Printed the Texts of Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium and Der rupsen begin, voedzel en wonderbaare verandering ?
15.40 Parallel Sessions | Biography and Context
• Joris Bürmann (École normale supérieure, Paris), Maria Sibylla Merian at l’Église du Seigneur: A New Light on the Wieuwerd Context.
• Amanda Pipkin (University of North Carolina), God’s Handiwork: Searching for Herbs and Insects on the Moors of Friesland.
• Rose Marie Tillisch (University of Copenhagen), Garden of Eden: Depicted by Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) and Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717).
• Margot Lölhöffel (Nürnberg), Maria Sibylla Gräffin, née Merianin: Starting a Career in Nuremberg ?
17.15 Drinks.
19.00 Conference Dinner (Allard Pierson Museum).
Vendredi 9 juin
9.00 Registration and coffee.
9.15 Erik de Jong (Artis-chair University of Amsterdam), Biophilia and Beauty in the Work of Maria Sibylla Merian.
9.45 Group division and walk.
10.00 Rotating Groups
• Artis Butterfly Garden.
• Joos van de Plas, How Merian’s Legacy Influenced my Art Work.
• Anita Walsmit Sachs, Science Meets Art, Art Meets Science.
11.30 Lunch.
12.00 Rotating Groups
• Artis Butterfly Garden
• Joos van de Plas, How Merian’s Legacy Influenced my Art Work.
• Anita Walsmit Sachs, Science Meets Art, Art Meets Science.