Waser and Merian – Two baroque artists

Switzerland’s first history of art was written in the mid-18th century. The author, the Swiss painter and art historian Johann Caspar Füssli, collected information about the country’s most important artists. Of all male artists, he only dedicated entries to two female artists: Anna Waser (1678–1714) and Maria Sibylla Merian (1647–1717).

Füssli reflected on this under-representation of female artists in his astonishingly critical – and from today’s perspective feminist – introductory text to Waser:

What Füssli, himself the father of two artistically gifted daughters, emphasizes here is nothing less than the fundamental problem of the opportunities for female development at that time. As a result, female artists were often underestimated compared to their male colleagues. For the women of the baroque period were certainly pillars of society, but they were usually denied recognition and educational opportunities.

In the course of the 17th century, however, more and more talented women began to free themselves from these social constructions. They were increasingly included in painters’ guilds or scientific circles, were appointed as court artists or made new discoveries through their own studies.

Johann Caspar Füssli placed Anna Waser from Zurich in his descriptions on an equal footing with internationally renowned artists such as Marietta Robusti and Sofonisba Anguissola from Italy or Rachel Ruysch from the Netherlands, thus placing Waser in an art-historical canon. As was often the case at the time, Waser’s talent was recognized by her father.

In addition to her artistic training, he stimulated her knowledge of foreign languages ​​and mathematics and trained her hand through calligraphy exercises. She received her first painting lessons from Johann Georg Sulzer, which she also recorded in her earliest self-portrait, which she made in 1691 when she was only 12 years old.

As the only known female member, she then went to the drawing school of the famous Bernese artist Joseph Werner. According to Füssli, Waser applied there with an imitation of Werner’s illustration of Flora, the ancient goddess of flowers. A few years later it became clear that she identified with the figure of Flora as an artist. In 1697, Waser immortalized herself in the family book of her cousin, the famous Zurich physician and scientist Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, with his own interpretation of the flora. Her hair decorated with flowers and her head tilted to the side, she showcases her great talent for drawing and her sense of detail in this self-portrait.

Waser became known outside the Swiss Confederation as an excellent portraitist and miniaturist. In 1700 she worked as a court painter for Count Wilhelm Moritz von Solms-Braunfels. This makes her the only Swiss artist to hold a courtly position during the Baroque period.

Back in Zurich she painted some landscapes commissioned by Johann Jakob Scheuchzer; among other things, entitled to the descriptions of his travels to the Alps Ouresiphoites Helveticus, seven, itinera per Helvetiae alpinas. The publication, which was financially supported by the Royal Society in London, is one of Scheuchzer’s most important works. When it was published, Scheuchzer made sure that his younger cousin’s artistic achievements were appropriately rewarded. John Thorpe, who was responsible for the printing, even speaks of Waser in a letter to Scheuchzer as “the most ingenious Madame Anne Waser”.

Anna Waser integrated herself into the male-dominated Swiss artist scene and maintained a lively exchange with colleagues such as Wilhelm Stettler, Felix Meyer and Johannes Dünz. Her circle of friends also included Maria Clara Eimmart (1676–1707) from Nuremberg, who had been trained as an artist and astronomer by her father. Eimmart is best known for her approximately 250 images of the moon.

Probably the most important artist who devoted herself not only to painting but also to natural research in the Baroque period is Maria Sibylla Merian. Her father Matthäus Merian the Younger A. died young, so she was trained as a flower and still life painter by her stepfather Jacob Marrel. From an early age she was interested in studying nature with a particular fascination for insects. Fussli writes:

She recorded the results of her systematic research in delicate drawings that served as the basis for her printed matter.

As an artist and as an entomologist, Merian achieved great fame for her main work Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, in which she showed the insects in their natural environment. Merian traveled in 1699 with her daughter to the Dutch colony of Surinam in South America. This undertaking not only testifies to a self-determined life plan, but also to a good dose of courage.

Like no other woman at the time, Merian was able to build up a broad network and gain a foothold in the male-dominated academic world. After her return from Suriname, she sold pigments and books, as well as stuffed animals she had brought back from her trip, in her Amsterdam shop to support herself.

Like so many baroque female artists, neither Waser nor Merian were allowed to join a painter’s guild or an academy. It was not until some 50 years after her death that a Swiss artist first received this honor. Angelika Kaufmann (1741–1807), from Chur, was one of the founders of the group founded in 1768, along with the still life painter Mary Moser Royal Academy of Art in London. However, for about 200 years they remained the only female members.

In Switzerland, the situation was similar for a long time. The Society of Swiss Painters and Sculptors did not admit female artists as members until 1972. Today, Swiss artists such as Pipilotti Rist and Sylvie Fleury are at the forefront of the art scene. So it is high time that women artists from the baroque period were also put in the spotlight.