When Merian moved to Amsterdam in 1691, she made the acquaintance of several naturalists.
Amsterdam was the centre of the Dutch Golden Age and a nexus for science, art and trade.
When settling in, Merian found support from the artist Michiel van Musscher, who lived not far away.
She took in students, one being Rachel Ruysch, daughter of the anatomist and physician Frederick Ruysch.
Merian became an important figure among Amsterdam's botanists, scientists and collectors.
Her Caterpillars books were getting noticed among the scientific community in England, she continued to breed caterpillars at home and ventured into the country side surrounding Amsterdam to study ants.
Among her friends were the director of the Amsterdam Botanical Garden Caspar Commelin, the mayor of Amsterdam and president of the Dutch East India Company Nicolas Witsen, the professor of medicine Fredericus Ruysch, and the merchant and collector Levinus Vincent.

Trading ships brought back never seen before shells, plants and preserved animals.
But Merian was not interested in preserving, collecting or studying specimens.
When she received a specimen from James Petiver she wrote to him that she was interested in "the formation, propagation, and metamorphosis of creatures, how one emerges from the other, and the nature of their diet."
Nevertheless, Merian accepted contract work.
She helped to illustrate the book The Amboinese Curiosity Cabinet written by Georg Eberhard Rumpf.
Rumpf was a naturalist and in the course of his work for the Dutch East India Company had collected Indonesian shells, rocks, fossils and sea animals.
Merian, and possibly her daughter Dorothea, helped to compile illustrations of the specimens for the book, as Rumpf went blind from glaucoma and continued work on the book with assistants until 1690.
It was published in 1705.

The exotic specimens on display in Amsterdam may have inspired her to travel to Surinam, but only interrupted her study of European insects briefly.
Merian continued her collection and observation activities, adding plates to her Caterpillars books and updating the existing plates.
She republished the two volumes in Dutch in 1713 and 1714 under the title Der Rupsen.
She extended her studies into flies and rewrote the preface to her books to eradicate any mention of spontaneous generation.
She explained that flies emerged from a caterpillar pupa, and suggested that flies could be born from excrement.
The 50 plates and descriptions of European insects that appear to have been intended for a third volume were published after her death by her daughters, who combined them with the 1713 editions to one large volume.
A number of Metamorphosis editions were also published posthumously by her family, to which 12 additional plates were added.
All but two appear to have been Merian's work.

Merian was described as lively, hard working and courteous by a visiting scholar in 1711.
Her house was full of drawings, insects, plants, fruit and on the walls were her Surinam watercolours.
Shortly before Merian's death, her work was seen in Amsterdam by Peter the Great.
After her death in 1717, he acquired a significant number of her paintings which to this day are kept in academic collections in St. Petersburg.
When Merian moved to Amsterdam in 1691, she made the acquaintance of several naturalists. Amsterdam was the centre of the Dutch Golden Age and a nexus for science, art and trade. When settling in, Merian found support from the artist Michiel van Musscher, who lived not far away. She took in students, one being Rachel Ruysch, daughter of the anatomist and physician Frederick Ruysch. Merian became an important figure among Amsterdam's botanists, scientists and collectors. Her Caterpillars books were getting noticed among the scientific community in England, she continued to breed caterpillars at home and ventured into the country side surrounding Amsterdam to study ants. Among her friends were the director of the Amsterdam Botanical Garden Caspar Commelin, the mayor of Amsterdam and president of the Dutch East India Company Nicolas Witsen, the professor of medicine Fredericus Ruysch, and the merchant and collector Levinus Vincent.
Trading ships brought back never seen before shells, plants and preserved animals. But Merian was not interested in preserving, collecting or studying specimens. When she received a specimen from James Petiver she wrote to him that she was interested in "the formation, propagation, and metamorphosis of creatures, how one emerges from the other, and the nature of their diet." Nevertheless, Merian accepted contract work. She helped to illustrate the book The Amboinese Curiosity Cabinet written by Georg Eberhard Rumpf. Rumpf was a naturalist and in the course of his work for the Dutch East India Company had collected Indonesian shells, rocks, fossils and sea animals. Merian, and possibly her daughter Dorothea, helped to compile illustrations of the specimens for the book, as Rumpf went blind from glaucoma and continued work on the book with assistants until 1690. It was published in 1705.
The exotic specimens on display in Amsterdam may have inspired her to travel to Surinam, but only interrupted her study of European insects briefly. Merian continued her collection and observation activities, adding plates to her Caterpillars books and updating the existing plates. She republished the two volumes in Dutch in 1713 and 1714 under the title Der Rupsen. She extended her studies into flies and rewrote the preface to her books to eradicate any mention of spontaneous generation. She explained that flies emerged from a caterpillar pupa, and suggested that flies could be born from excrement. The 50 plates and descriptions of European insects that appear to have been intended for a third volume were published after her death by her daughters, who combined them with the 1713 editions to one large volume. A number of Metamorphosis editions were also published posthumously by her family, to which 12 additional plates were added. All but two appear to have been Merian's work.
Merian was described as lively, hard working and courteous by a visiting scholar in 1711. Her house was full of drawings, insects, plants, fruit and on the walls were her Surinam watercolours. Shortly before Merian's death, her work was seen in Amsterdam by Peter the Great. After her death in 1717, he acquired a significant number of her paintings which to this day are kept in academic collections in St. Petersburg.
Maria Sibylla Merian