In 1699 Maria Sibylla Merian did something almost unheard of for a woman of her time: at fifty-two she sailed to the Dutch colony of Surinam to study its insects in the wild. The book she brought back changed natural history. Instead of pinned specimens she painted living cycles — here a flowering banana plant hung with the caterpillar, the chrysalis, and the emerged moth all at once, the whole metamorphosis on a single plate, each creature shown on the plant it actually fed on. It was rigorous ecology two centuries before the word existed, and it is exquisite. One of the founders of entomology, and one of its finest artists, in one page.

Maker: Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 to 1717)
Date: 1705
Medium of the original: Painting
Original held by: Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium
Credit: Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium · via Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public domain, verified
Catalogue number: PA-00669

As chosen: 16 x 20 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	16 x 20 in
Outside size	17.6 x 21.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
8 x 10 in	318	Excellent	Trimmed 9%
8 x 12 in	291	Excellent	Trimmed 8.4%
11 x 14 in	231	Excellent	Trimmed 7.4%
12 x 16 in	212	Excellent	Trimmed 3%
12 x 18 in	194	Good	Trimmed 8.4%
16 x 20 in	159	Good	Trimmed 9%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
16 x 24 in	145 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
18 x 24 in	141 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
20 x 30 in	116 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 30 in	106 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 36 in	97 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
30 x 40 in	84 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 48 in	70 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
40 x 60 in	58 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged

Scanned: 2026-10-07
Master file: 2,547 x 3,500 px, srgb
Tone: Darks 66, lights 240 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
Colour: 0.1% vivid
Sharpness: 607.52