A dark study illuminated by single leaded glass window at left; in middle ground a seated man behind cluttered desk faces slightly left; open and closed books, papers, jars and jugs scattered on floor; at right a seated…

An alchemist reads a large book, seated in a cluttered laboratory with drapery-strewn arched ceilings. The scene is illuminated by the glow of daylight from an open window. His desk is piled high with open texts, folios…

A painting in brunaille, a monochromatic image in tones of brown. This painting shows a seated alchemist in peasant garb. In his hands he holds a crucible and a pair of tongs, working before the light of a glowing fire…

This representation of the ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras, who was greatly revered in the Renaissance era, comes from chapter 25 of the publication Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes…

This depiction of German polymath, physician, legal scholar, soldier, theologian, and occult writer Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1486–1535) comes from chapter 107 of the publication Les vrais pourtraits et…

This depiction of 8th-century Arabic polymath Abu Mūsā Jābir ibn Hayyān, westernized by Europeans as "Geber," comes from chapter 33 of the publication Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et…

This wood engraving portrays Albertus Magnus (1193?-1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, who was a German Dominican friar and Catholic bishop. The inscription "Albert Le Grand Evesque de…

This "Rosicrucian" woodcut portrait of the Swiss-German physician and alchemist Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus—better known as Paracelsus—appeared as the frontispiece to a posthumous 1567 edition of his works titled Ph…

A scene from the two-sided folio from Hartmann Schedel's The Book of Chronicles, or in German Das Buch der Chroniken (1493), depicting God creating Adam from clay. This clay is interpreted alchemically as the "prima…

A two-sided folio from Hartmann Schedel's The Book of Chronicles, or in German Das Buch der Chroniken (1493). On the recto is a text block on top and an image below depicting God creating Adam from clay. This clay is…

A half-length portrait of French scientist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850).

A three-quarter-length portrait of Thomas Graham (1805–1869), the Scottish chemist who worked on the diffusion of gases.

Mezzotint of a portrait bust of the Irish chemist Robert Boyle (1627–1691) in an arched niche.

This print, after a painting by Adriaen van Ostade, shows a humble peasant-alchemist at work before a furnace. Working with a pair of hand bellows—the source of the alchemists' mocking nickname, "puffer,"— the alchemist…

A mid-length portrait of Robert Hare, MD.

A half-length seated portrait of Joseph Priestley (1733–1804), an English clergyman and natural philosopher who discovered oxygen.

A half-length seated portrait of Martin Folkes (1690–1754), English mathematician and president of the Royal Society.

A framed portrait of Joseph Black (1728–1799), professor of chemistry at University of Glasgow, seated and holding a document.

A half-length seated portrait of the 17th-century doctor Gerardus Blasius pointing to an anatomy figure in a book.

This etching, after a print by Balthasar Moncornet, in turn after a drawing by Rembrandt, claims to display a portrait of the French manuscript seller Nicolas Flamel (1330-1418). Flamel, along with his wife Perenelle,…

An engraving of Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus (born Theophrastus von Hohenheim) wearing a small medal around his neck.

A Chine-collé portrait of English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) sitting in a wicker chair near a hanging tapestry.