Maria Sibylla Merian's father, the Swiss engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian the Elder, married her mother, his second wife, Johanna Sybilla Heyne, in 1646.
Maria was born within the next year in 1647, making her his ninth child.
Her father died in 1650, and in 1651, her mother remarried Jacob Marrel, the flower and still life painter.
Marrel encouraged Merian to draw and paint.
While he lived mostly in Holland, his pupil Abraham Mignon trained her.
At the age of 13, she painted her first images of insects and plants from specimens she had captured.
Early on, she had access to many books about natural history.
Regarding her youth, in the foreword to Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Merian wrote:
I spent my time investigating insects.
At the beginning, I started with silkworms in my home town of Frankfurt.
I realized that other caterpillars produced beautiful butterflies or moths, and that silkworms did the same.
This led me to collect all the caterpillars I could find in order to see how they changed.

In May 1665, Merian married Marrel's apprentice, Johann Andreas Graff from Nuremberg; his father was a poet and director of the local high school, one of the leading schools in 17th-century Germany.
In January 1668, she had her first child, Johanna Helena, and the family moved to Nuremberg in 1670, her husband's home town.
While living there, Merian continued painting, working on parchment and linen, and creating designs for embroidery.
She also gave drawing lessons to unmarried daughters of wealthy families (her "Jungferncompaney", i.e. virgin group), which helped her family financially and increased its social standing.
This provided her with access to the finest gardens, maintained by the wealthy and elite, where she could continue collecting and documenting insects.
In 1675, Merian was included in Joachim von Sandrart's German Academy.
Aside from painting flowers she made copperplate engravings.
After attending Sandrart's school she published flower pattern books.
In 1678, she gave birth to her second daughter Dorothea Maria.

Other women still-life painters, such as Merian's contemporary Margaretha de Heer, included insects in their floral pictures, but did not breed or study them.
In 1679, she published her first work on insects, the first of a two-volume illustrated book focusing on insect metamorphosis.

In 1678, the family had moved to Frankfurt am Main, but her marriage was an unhappy one.
She moved in with her mother after her stepfather died in 1681.
In 1683 she traveled to Gottorp and was attracted to the Labadists community in Holstein.
In 1685, Merian traveled with her mother, husband and children to Friesland where her half-brother Caspar Merian had lived since 1677.
Maria Sibylla Merian's father, the Swiss engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian the Elder, married her mother, his second wife, Johanna Sybilla Heyne, in 1646. Maria was born within the next year in 1647, making her his ninth child. Her father died in 1650, and in 1651, her mother remarried Jacob Marrel, the flower and still life painter. Marrel encouraged Merian to draw and paint. While he lived mostly in Holland, his pupil Abraham Mignon trained her. At the age of 13, she painted her first images of insects and plants from specimens she had captured. Early on, she had access to many books about natural history. Regarding her youth, in the foreword to Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Merian wrote:
I spent my time investigating insects. At the beginning, I started with silkworms in my home town of Frankfurt. I realized that other caterpillars produced beautiful butterflies or moths, and that silkworms did the same. This led me to collect all the caterpillars I could find in order to see how they changed.
In May 1665, Merian married Marrel's apprentice, Johann Andreas Graff from Nuremberg; his father was a poet and director of the local high school, one of the leading schools in 17th-century Germany. In January 1668, she had her first child, Johanna Helena, and the family moved to Nuremberg in 1670, her husband's home town. While living there, Merian continued painting, working on parchment and linen, and creating designs for embroidery. She also gave drawing lessons to unmarried daughters of wealthy families (her "Jungferncompaney", i.e. virgin group), which helped her family financially and increased its social standing. This provided her with access to the finest gardens, maintained by the wealthy and elite, where she could continue collecting and documenting insects. In 1675, Merian was included in Joachim von Sandrart's German Academy. Aside from painting flowers she made copperplate engravings. After attending Sandrart's school she published flower pattern books. In 1678, she gave birth to her second daughter Dorothea Maria.
Other women still-life painters, such as Merian's contemporary Margaretha de Heer, included insects in their floral pictures, but did not breed or study them. In 1679, she published her first work on insects, the first of a two-volume illustrated book focusing on insect metamorphosis.
In 1678, the family had moved to Frankfurt am Main, but her marriage was an unhappy one. She moved in with her mother after her stepfather died in 1681. In 1683 she traveled to Gottorp and was attracted to the Labadists community in Holstein. In 1685, Merian traveled with her mother, husband and children to Friesland where her half-brother Caspar Merian had lived since 1677.
Maria Sibylla Merian