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Merian.
Family of artists and publishers of Swiss origin, active in Germany and Holland. The engraver (1) Matthäus Merian (i), whose forebears were sawyers and timber-merchants in Basle, married Maria Magdalena de Bry (d 1645), the daughter of the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry, in 1617. Taking control of his father-in-law’s business in 1626, at its base in Frankfurt am Main, he established it as one of Europe’s leading producers of topographical and historical work. Matthäus Merian (i)’s elder son (2) Matthäus Merian (ii) became a successful portrait painter before taking over the publishing house on his father’s death in 1650; his younger son Caspar Merian (1627–86) concentrated on engraving. Matthäus Merian (i)’s two daughters by his marriage to Maria Magdalena married the engravers Christoph Le Blon II and Melchior Küsel I. From the second marriage of Matthäus Merian (i) in 1646 to Johanna Sibylla Heimy, a further daughter, (3) Maria Sibylla Merian, was born; she became an outstanding painter of plants and insects, working in Holland and Surinam. She had two daughters by her marriage to the painter Johann Andreas Graff (1637–1701), Johanna Helena (b 1688) and Dorothea Henrica (1678–1745): the latter married the painter Georg Gsell. The Frankfurt publishing house remained under the family’s control until 1727. The following members have entries:
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