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Half height banner for Maria Merian exhibition, showing a butterfly
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WORKSHOP OF MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN (1647-1717)

Still life with fruit and Blue-Backed Manakin

c.1705?

RCIN 921239

Although this watercolour was painted in Europe, it includes a Blue-Backed Manakin (Chiroxiphia pareola), a bird native to South America. Specimens of exotic birds and animals were brought back to Europe on trading ships and Merian and her daughters would have encountered many such ‘curiosities’ in the Netherlands. This watercolour is probably by Merian’s daughter Johanna, who made a number of similar works.

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