Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593–1650)

• Was a Swiss-born engraver.
• Born in Basel, Merian learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zürich.
• He next worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, and Paris, before returning to Basel in 1615.
• The following year he moved to Oppenheim, Germany where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry.
• In 1617, Merian married Maria Magdalena de Bry.
• In 1620, when Oppenheim was destroyed by fire during the Spanish occupation, they moved back to Basel, but three years later returned to Germany, this time to Frankfurt.
• They had four daughters and three sons, including Matthäus Merian the Younger.
• Maria Magdalena de Bry died in 1645 and the following year Matthäus married Johanna Sibylla Heim.
• They had two children, Anna Maria Sibylla Merian (born 1647), who later became a pioneering naturalist and illustrator, and a son, Maximilian.
• In 1623 Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death.
• In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt.
• He spent most of his working life in Frankfurt.

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