"A lady is supposed to be a painter of flowers, but not of animals. This is what the world, decency, and custom demand" - so speaks a character in a novel by Theodor Fontane about the themes that a female artist was allowed to paint, if she was even perceived as an artist and not just as a woman looking for another pastime alongside her handiwork. However, women like Maria Sibylla Merian were not satisfied with these clichés. They broke through the narrow boundaries that "world, decency, and custom" imposed on their gender and claimed their place in the realm of art as well as in that of natural history. In eleven captivating portraits of women from the Middle Ages to the present, we experience how art and nature have uniquely encountered each other in the works of women. Illustrations of the artworks and a consistently colorful, lovingly designed layout make the book a special experience.