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Masterpiece Maria van Oosterwijck

Ask Katy Hessel: Maria Sibylla Merian

From the series Women of the Rijksmuseum

How did Maria Sybilla Merian become both an artist and a scientist, and what did her process look like?

Katy Hessel is a British art historian and author dedicated to celebrating women artists. Ahead of her last visit to the Rijksmuseum, we asked our audience what they would like to know about Maria Sibylla Merian.

Ask Katy Hessel: Maria Tesselschade Roemers Visscher

01:43 - How did she learn the craft of glass engraving?

Ask Katy Hessel: Judith Leyster

01:38 - Was her humour exceptional, or exactly of its time?

Ask Katy Hessel: Rachel Ruysch

01:31 - These flowers bloom forever

Ask Katy Hessel: Maria van Oosterwijck

01:31 - An expression of unwavering faith

Ask Katy Hessel: Maria Sibylla Merian

01:46 - Art and science come together

Vanitas stilleven Vanitas stilleven

Masterpiece Maria van Oosterwijck

Charley Toorop

4:09 min. - Women of the Rijksmuseum

Two Children with a Cat Two Children with a Cat

Judith Leyster

Star painter of the seventeenth century

Maritge Vooght

3:38 min. - Women of the Rijksmuseum

Maria Sibylla Merian’s insects of Suriname

Famous for her detailed illustrations of insects and plants

Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase Still Life with Flowers in a Glass Vase

Rachel Ruysch

Barbara Hepworth

17:46 min. - Ludo van Halem, curator of 20th-century art, and Robert Uterwijk, tour guide and artist

Young Italian Woman, with ‘Puck’ the Dog Young Italian Woman, with ‘Puck’ the Dog

Thérèse Schwartze

Powerhouse and portraitist of Dutch high society