Merian, Matthäus

About the artist

Name

Merian, Matthäus

Biography

Matthäus Merian was born on the 22nd of September 1593. Merian began his artistic career in his hometown, Basel, where he learned glass engraving. Around 1609, Merian moved to Zurich and learned etching under the guidance of Dietrich Meyer I. From 1611 onwards Merian travelled widely, all the while completing numerous engraved works; towns he worked in include Strasbourg, Nancy, Paris, Stuttgart, Augsburg and Oppenheim. In Oppenheim, Merian began to work in the publishing house of Johann Theodor de Bry; he also married de Bry's daughter, Maria Magadlena, in February 1617. Merian worked in Oppenheim for some time, but also in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Heidelberg; he also returned to Basel for some time after 1620. In 1623, De Bry died, and Merian's mother-in-law later asked him to help manage the publishing house, which had moved from Oppenheim to Frankfurt. From 1626, Merian ran the publishing business himself. Until as late as the 1650s Merian made many of the plates himself, and also trained a number of assistants and pupils in his style, including Wenceslaus Hollar. Matthäus Merian died on the 19th of June 1650. His works are now widely acknowledged to be highly skillful examples of engraving, and are related to many different genres; earlier on, for example, Merian illustrated courtly scenes, topographical plans and maps; later, he completed cosmological and alchemical illustrations. He also completed a Dance of Death around 1616, based on a mural in Basel. Central Library houses a copy of Merian's Dance in its Dance of Death Collection.

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