The following passage is adapted from an article on seventeenth-century natural history and scientific illustration:
In June 1699, the German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator Maria Sibylla Merian set sail from Amsterdam bound for Suriname in South America. Accompanied by her youngest daughter, Dorothea Maria, the fifty-two-year-old Merian funded the voyage independently by selling her own paintings and specimens. At a time when scientific expeditions were almost exclusively state-sponsored and led by men, Merian’s journey was unprecedented. Her primary objective was to observe and document tropical insects in their natural habitats, specifically focusing on the stages of insect metamorphosis. Prior to her work, many scholars still adhered to the ancient belief that insects spontaneously generated from decaying matter. Over the course of two years in Suriname, Merian collected, raised, and drew hundreds of insect species, producing intricate folio illustrations that documented their complete life cycles alongside the specific host plants upon which they fed.
Based on the passage, how did Maria Sibylla Merian finance her 1699 expedition to Suriname?
- By selling her own artwork and natural specimensAnswer
- BThrough a scientific grant awarded by the city of Amsterdam
- CBy securing official state sponsorship required for overseas travel
- DUsing profits earned after publishing her insect life cycle illustrations