Alchemy

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Gold
- 1870 – 1890
This print reproduces a painting exhibited by A. H. Tourrier at the Royal Academy in London in 1871. The scene shows a trio of nobles standing awed before an alchemist holding out a broken crucible in his right…
- Engraver Greatbach, G. (George)
- After Tourrier, Alfred Holst
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, Gold, and Alchemy in art
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Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- 1652 (MDCLII)
First published in 1652, this compilation of English alchemical literature was collected and annotated by Elias Ashmole. The book made available many works that had previously existed only in privately held manuscripts,…
- Creator Ashmole, Elias, 1617-1692
- Printer Grismond, John
- Subject Alchemy
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Here followeth the Figure conteyning [containing] all the secrets of the Treatise both great & small
- Part of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- 1652 (MDCLII)
Engraved diagram from George Ripley's The Compound of Alchymie. Known as Ripley's Wheel, the drawing depicts concentric planetary spheres along with his alchemical recipes.
- Author Ripley, George, -1490?
- Creator Ashmole, Elias, 1617-1692
- Engraver Goddard, John, active 1645-1671
- Printer Grismond, John
- Subject Alchemy
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Alchemical laboratory
- Part of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- 1652 (MDCLII)
This 17th-century engraving is from Thomas Norton's The Ordinall of Alchimy and was made after a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (now preserved in the British Library). Norton, a practicing alchemist, depicts an…
- Author Norton, Thomas, active 1477
- Creator Ashmole, Elias, 1617-1692
- Engraver Vaughan, Robert, 1597-1663
- Printer Grismond, John
- Subject Alchemy
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Title page from Elias Ashmole's Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- Part of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- 1652 (MDCLII)
The engraved emblem on the lower half of this title page was made after a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (now preserved in the British Library) and depicts an eagle, snake, and toad against a solar and lunar…
- Creator Ashmole, Elias, 1617-1692
- Engraver Vaughan, Robert, 1597-1663
- Printer Grismond, John
- Subject Alchemy and Title pages
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Alchemical master and disciple
- Part of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum
- 1652 (MDCLII)
This 17th-century engraving is from Thomas Norton's The Ordinall of Alchimy and was made after a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (now preserved in the British Library). Norton, a practicing alchemist, depicts the…
- Author Norton, Thomas, active 1477
- Creator Ashmole, Elias, 1617-1692
- Engraver Vaughan, Robert, 1597-1663
- Printer Grismond, John
- Subject Alchemy
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Plate XVIII: Chymie
- circa 1751 – 1772
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…
- Contributor Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784 and Alembert, Jean Le Rond d', 1717-1783
- Subject Chemistry, Alchemy, and Libavius, Andreas, -1616
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A Table of Chemical Characters
- 1777
- Author Macquer, Pierre Joseph, 1718-1784
- Engraver Westwood
- Contributor Keir, James, 1735-1820
- Publisher Elmsley, Peter, 1736-1802 and Cadell, T. (Thomas), 1742-1802
- Subject Alchemy, Chemistry--Abbreviations, Chemistry--Nomenclature, and Chemistry--Dictionaries
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The Village Chemist
- 1760
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…
- Artist Juncker, Justus, 1703-1767
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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The Alchemist's Experiment Takes Fire
- 1687
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…
- Artist Heerschop, Hendrik
- Subject Families in art, Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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A man filling wet drug jars in an apothecary shop
- circa 1650 – 1800
In the apothecary's workshop a man pours liquid from a jar into blue earthenware vessels. He is surrounded by copper bowls, jars, and sacks of endive and other herbs and vegetables likely used for medical preparations…
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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The Alchemist and His Wife
- circa 1928
When Chester Fisher commissioned this copy of a painting by David Ryckaert III (1612-1661), in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, it was long assumed that the painting depicted the famous Nicolas…
- Artist Hammerer, Jacques
- After Ryckaert, David, 1612-1661
- Subject Families in art, Alchemists, Alchemy, Flamel, Nicolas, -1418, and Alchemy in art
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Alchemist in His Studio
- circa 1640 – 1677
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…
- Artist Wyck, Thomas, approximately 1616-1677
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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The Alchemist
- 1800s
A bearded man reading a book is standing in a great vaulted interior. A large window illuminates the room with warm daylight, reflecting against the glassware sparsely placed on upper shelves. At right, a long-necked…
- Artist Granet, François-Marius, 1775-1849
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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An Alchemist's Workshop with Children Playing
- 1670 – 1702
The alchemist's wife looks on in dismay as the alchemist himself makes a demonstration before the furnace. Behind the couple, an assistant stokes the flames with a large bellows. At left, the alchemist's children play…
- Artist Brakenberg, Richard, 1650-1703
- Subject Families in art, Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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The Alchemist
- 1600s
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,…
- Artist Helmont, Mattheus van
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, Metal-work, Urine--Analysis, and Alchemy in art
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The Alchemist
- 1884
In a stone chamber, an alchemist holds aloft a small vial to examine it against a beam of light from above. Plainly dressed in a brown robe, he stands before a table stacked with glassware, scales, and an open book. On…
- Artist O'Neill, Charles, 1821-1893
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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An Apothecary
- circa 1725 – 1767
An alchemist smokes a small clay pipe as he works, stirring a substance in an earthenware jar. His assistant kneels beside the hearth at right, tending the coals of a fire beneath a distillation apparatus. Copper…
- Artist Juncker, Justus, 1703-1767
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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An Alchemist's Workshop
- circa 1725 – 1767
A bald-headed alchemist peers through his spectacles at the heated crucible which his assistant holds up. A second crucible and a larger experiment sit on the fire at left. On the floor sits a hand-bellows, as well as…
- Artist Juncker, Justus, 1703-1767
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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Alchemist seated in his laboratory
- circa 1887 – circa 1963
The alchemist sits, stirring the contents of a crucible, as he carefully watches the progress of a distillation experiment. He is surrounded by alchemical apparatus, glassware, and open books. An hourglass at his side…
- Artist Reich, Adolf, 1887-1963
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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John Dee
- 1827
This portrait of the famed alchemist John Dee (1527-1609) shows a bearded, elderly man attired in the fashion of the Elizabethan court, complete with a sober scholar's cap and a starched collar ruff. It closely…
- Publisher Hunt and Clarke
- Subject Alchemists and Dee, John, 1527-1608
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Ambrose Godfrey Hanckwitz
- 1718
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…
- Engraver Vertue, George, 1684-1756
- After Schmutz, Johann Rudolf, 1670-1715
- Subject Alchemy and Godfrey, Ambrose, -1741
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La Consultation Appréhendée
- circa 1760 – 1786
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…
- Engraver Le Veau, Jean Jacques André, 1729-1786
- After Bilcoq, Marie-Marc-Antoine, 1755-1838
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, Urine--Analysis, and Alchemy in art
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The Chymist [Chemist]
- 1750
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…
- Engraver Major, Thomas, 1720-1799
- After Teniers, David, 1610-1690
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art
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The Dutch Chymist [Chemist]
- circa 1719 – 1804
This engraving, by John Boydell, reproduces a lively scene of alchemists at work, after the painting "The Village Alchemist" by Jan Steen (early 1660s) in the Wallace Collection in London. Two men crowd around a third,…
- Engraver Boydell, John, 1720-1804
- After Steen, Jan, 1626-1679
- Subject Alchemists, Alchemy, and Alchemy in art