This print, after a painting by Martin Schmidt, captures the moment when an alchemist lowers a live scorpion into a steaming crucible. Billowing smoke from the fire rises around him as he performs this portion of the…

This print, engraved by Jean Jacques Le Veau after a painting by Marie-Marc-Antoine Bilcoq, shows a bearded alchemist examining a flask in the warm light of an unseen window. In a humble chamber behind a wooden…

Men feed wood into furnaces and stoke flames in this spacious laboratory, populated with large masonry furnaces for the smelting and working of metals. This scene also contains a list of alchemical elements in Latin.…

This etching by Anton Joseph von Prenner reproduces a painting by the German painter Christopher Paudiss, known as Baudiz. Working by the glow of candlelight, a seated man studies an anatomical text at a desk…

This mezzotint by William Pether, after the 1771 painting by Joseph Wright of Derby, shows a kneeling alchemist in his laboratory, gazing in wonder at the results of his latest experiment. The painting's full original…

Hand-colored engraving from the "Chimie" section of Volume 3 of the Recueil de planches, sur les sciences, les arts libéraux, et les arts méchaniques, avec leur explication, which consisted of illustrated plates to…

This etching reproduces in reverse a painting in the Hermitage Museum which has been attributed to Gerrit Dou. Through an illusionistic stone archway draped with an embroidered curtain, we see a finely-dressed physician…

A seated man with red furred cap writing at table covered with red carpet; a window at left; before him at extreme left a skull on a book. At right a large copper bowl, globe, chair and apparatus. Mid painting in middle…

Engraved by Thomas Major after a painting of the same subject by David Teniers II, this print shows a young alchemist in a cap and apron working a pair of bellows before an open hearth. Distillation vessels, open books,…

A bearded alchemist squints closely at his experiment as he tends a small fire with a pair of hand-bellows. Beside him, his young assistant looks on. This busy and productive workroom also houses a pair of assistants…

This print, engraved by Thomas Major and dedicated to his patron, the royal physician Richard Mead, reproduces a painting by David Teniers II. This copy of the print has been hand-colored. An elderly, finely-dressed…

The full text above and below the image of this print reads, "The First Lecture in Experimental Philosophy. / Engraved for the Universal Magazine, for J. Hinton at the King's Arms in St. Paul's Church-Yard London.…

This engraving by Thomas Major, after a painting of the same subject by David Teniers II, shows a "country surgeon" at work, treating the foot of a patient. As the surgeon bends down to apply a leech to the man's foot,…

This engraving by François Bernard Lépicié reproduces the painting by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. A young man in a fur-trimmed cap and robe sits reading, surrounded by books and glassware. On the shelf above sit…

This image appeared as the frontispiece to Lorenzo Lippi's posthumously published comic-heroic poem, "Il Malmantile Racquistato." The work was first released in 1676 under the pseudonym "Perlone Zipoli," an anagram of…

This engraving shows the bust of Ambrose Godfrey-Hanckwitz (1660–1741), an apothecary from Germany who later came to England to assist Sir Robert Boyle; here he is surrounded by his apparatus. At the left are the…

An alchemist in a calf-length robe holds up a book in one hand, reading with close attention as he stirs a substance in a small crucible. The tabletop beside him is littered with glassware and distillation vessels. In a…

A bald alchemist stands at his furnace on the right, stirring the contents of his crucible while reading a small book. His young apprentice stands by, attentively looking to the alchemist for guidance. Books and other…

This scene depicts tools and materials used both in alchemy and in art—most notably the large écorché figure placed on the alchemist's table, which was used by artists and students of human anatomy. A human skull,…

An alchemist wearing a green robe uses a pair of bellows to control the heat of the fire beneath his crucible. Other vessels sit on the furnace at his side, and an animal skull hangs from a peg. A hammer and tongs…

The walls of this busy and productive apothecary's shop are lined with glass vessels and earthenware jars used for the preparation and storage of drugs, tonics and purgatives. The apothecary sits at his desk, conversing…

This workshop scene highlights the many activities of an apothecary's assistants as they sort and process herbs and plants, distill organic substances for medicine, and prepare doses. Large racks of glass distillation…

A gray-bearded scholar in a red cap writes at his desk with a quill. Scattered in front of him are fabric-covered ceramic jars, a celestial globe, glass jars stoppered with twists, and a pipe. Illumination floods the…

The alchemist's experiment has erupted in a sudden fire, with glass shattering in midair and smoke billowing upward. The alchemist is seated awkwardly in his chair with a startled expression on his face, having turned…