 Maria Magdalena de Bry died in 1645 and the following year Matthäus married Johanna Catharina Hein.Five years later, Matthäus died, leaving his wife with two small children, Anna Maria Sibylla Merian (born 1647), who later became a pioneering naturalist and illustrator, and a son, Maximilian, who died before his third birthday.In 1623 Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death.