Search for Sibylla: The 17th Century's Woman of Today

About the Book

Maria Sibylla Merian, born in 1647 in Germany, became in her day Europe’s most highly regarded botanical artist and the first published woman naturalist. She was in the vanguard of amateur naturalists that led to the creations of the London Royal Academy, Louis XIV’s Academie des Sciences, and to the nomenclatures of Linnaeus. Her name was well-known for almost one hundred years, but eventually her work and name became buried, and information that was available was not written in English. This book is the story of the author’s fascination with the art and scientific work of Maria Sibylla Merian which led to this search for her amazing life story.

About the Author

Patricia Kleps Hok has long been interested in art and in botanical subjects. She was a founder of the Davis Art Center in Davis, California and a member of the Board of Directors at the Helen Strybing Arboretum in San Francisco. She has written advertising copy for the agency of Rhodes and Davis in San Francisco, published several magazine articles for Forecast Magazine, and a short family biography. Patricia has travelled throughout the world, and on one excursion, she discovered Maria Sibylla Merian—an encounter which inspired this book. She now lives in Davis, California, where she and her husband raised their children. She enjoys seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.