European Fascination with Products of the New World

In this painting of a banana plant, Maria Sibylla Merian offers a scientific study of one of the many exotic plants and animals found by Europeans who traveled to the colonies overseas. In 1699, Merian traveled to the Dutch South American colony of Surinam with her daughter. (Inflorescence of Banana, 1705, by Maria Sibylla Graff Merian [1647–1717] / Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA / The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund / Bridgeman Images.)