Johanna Helena Herolt

Johanna Helena Herolt (1 May 1668 – after 1723) was an 18th-century botanical artist from Germany. She was well known for her paintings, similar to her mother, Maria Sibylla Merian, with her draftsmanship.

Biography Herolt was the eldest daughter of the painters Maria Sibylla Merian, and Johann Andreas Graff, and, along with her sister Dorothea Maria Graff, learned to paint from them. Though she was born in Frankfurt, in 1670 the family moved to Nuremberg, where she was raised.

Though Johann Graff joined his family later, in 1686 Merian left her husband and moved with her two daughters and her mother to a religious community of Labadists in Wieuwerd, Friesland.

Johanna Helena Herolt's watercolors reveal a fascination not only with flowers, but also with insect metamorphosis, as did her mother, Maria Sibylla Merian. Herolt's works are decorated with detailed depictions of the insects that accompany her plants.

Mother and daughter collaborated on numerous works, including The Insects of Suriname, which proved especially popular. Herolt had a unique talent that is often misattributed to her famous mother, but this work demonstrates Herolt's own talent.