Nel gran teatro della natura. Maria Sibylla Merian donna d’arte e di scienza (1647-1717) (2022)
Brunella Torresin (Author)
Edizioni Pendragon
Physical Details: 233 pp.
Language: Italian
Donna, divorziata con due figlie, cinquantaduenne: anche negli ambienti più colti della società europea di fine Seicento, il talento poco valeva a riscattare una condizione femminile inesorabilmente minoritaria. Consapevole del proprio valore di pittrice, illustratrice e naturalista, la tedesca Maria Sibylla Merian ha saputo tramutare a suo vantaggio pregiudizi e costrizioni secolari, in un modo che ancora oggi appare sbalorditivo, grazie a un impegno instancabile, fatto di rigore, pazienza, visione, studio. Si imbarca, alla fine del mese di giugno 1699, su un veliero della Compagnia Olandese delle Indie Occidentali, che da Amsterdam la porterà nella colonia del Suriname, per una spedizione che è al tempo stesso artistica, scientifica e commerciale: per sostenerne i costi ha venduto tutto ciò che possedeva. Nelle terre incognite del Nuovo Mondo raccoglie insetti e altri animali che osserva e disegna, documentando minuziosamente quello che più le sta a cuore, e cioè il processo di trasformazione. Serpenti, iguane, rospi, bruchi e farfalle, con le piante di cui si nutrono, daranno vita a meravigliose tavole di incisioni acquerellate: un corpus prezioso per l’avanzamento delle scienze naturali, che ha saputo catturare l’interesse di collezionisti, studiosi e intellettuali di tutta Europa, da Linneo a Goethe. Dotata, temeraria e determinata, Maria Sybilla Merian ci offre l’esempio di un destino eccezionale, compiuto forzando le convenzioni sociali, reinventando i codici della propria professione, realizzando una felice sintesi di arte e scienza. [Abstract translated by DeepL Translator: This is the abstract in English… Female, divorced with two daughters, 52 years old: even in the most cultured circles of late 17th-century European society, talent was of little value in redeeming an inexorably minority female status. Aware of her own worth as a painter, illustrator and naturalist, the German Maria Sibylla Merian was able to turn centuries-old prejudices and constraints to her advantage in a way that still seems astounding today, thanks to a tireless commitment of rigor, patience, vision and study. She embarked, at the end of June 1699, on a sailing ship of the Dutch West India Company, which would take her from Amsterdam to the colony of Surinam, for an expedition that was at once artistic, scientific and commercial: to bear the costs she sold everything she owned. In the unknown lands of the New World she collects insects and other animals, which she observes and draws, meticulously documenting what matters most to her, namely the process of transformation. Snakes, iguanas, toads, caterpillars and butterflies, along with the plants on which they feed, will give rise to marvelous plates of watercolor etchings-a valuable corpus for the advancement of the natural sciences, which has captured the interest of collectors, scholars and intellectuals throughout Europe, from Linnaeus to Goethe. Gifted, daring and determined, Maria Sybilla Merian offers us an example of an exceptional destiny, accomplished by forcing social conventions, reinventing the codes of her profession, and achieving a happy synthesis of art and science.]
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