Michael Bernhard Valentini (1657-1729) was the personal physician to the Margrave of Assia, professor of experimental science and medicine at Giessen and collector of natural history specimens. His Viridarium Reformatum (1719) was based largely on plates by Johann Theodor de Bry and his son-in-law, Matthaus Merian, which it is assumed he obtained, and included plates by a number of others as well.