In the center of a large room, a surgeon in a red cap and apron kneels to apply a leech to the foot of his bearded patient. Scenes of bloodletting and leechcraft are common in such images of doctors' surgeries. The…

In this small copy of a larger painting by David Teniers II (artist unknown), a bearded physician examines a flask of urine as his patient, a middle-aged woman, looks on thoughtfully. Before him is an open book, likely…

Seated in a disorderly and rustic workshop, an alchemist examines a flask while scratching his head, deep in thought. Scattered about the floor are books, vessels, and a dog which has curled up in a pile of straw. More…

A bearded alchemist sits in the midst of a bustling workshop, tending a small brazier of coals with a hand-bellows. Objects for metalworking- including an anvil, crucible, furnace and hammer- are joined by vessels for…

A bearded, seated alchemist, wearing glasses and bright red shirt, bends over an open book on a desk stacked high with a mess of papers and glassware. The trail of books continues to the ground with broken and unbroken…

A physician wearing the traditional physician's cap conducts a urinoscopy on the flask he holds. A woman is seated beside him, waiting for the results. In the foreground the alchemist's assistant is tending to a furnace…

In a large stone chamber, a young woman in a blue skirt leans close to study a flask held by an elderly, bearded iatrochemist. He rests against a table covered with an embroidered carpet, topped with other glass vessels…

The labors of an elderly alchemist are closely watched by a monkey which perches on the window above. The alchemist busies himself investigating samples wrapped in paper or notes in a cluttered workshop. The floor at…

An engraving by F. Basan, after the painting by David Teniers II. The inscription below this work, Le Grimoire d'Hypocrate, refers to Hippocrates, a Greek physician often called the father of medicine in Western…

This etching, by the Italian engraver and etcher Giuseppe [Joseph] Longhi, reproduces a work by the Dutch master of chiaroscuro, Rembrandt van Rijn. The original painting traveled to France in the 18th century and…

This etching by Francesco Pedro, for Nicollo Cavalli of Venice, reproduces a painting by Francesco Maggiotto. The scene shows four individuals in a humble workroom, gathered around a brazier full of coals. The central…

This engraving by J. Tardieu reproduces a painting of the same subject by David Teniers II. An older man with a lined, wizened face sits in a chair before a table, intently reading an open book. Before him sits a globe,…

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…

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…

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,…

This print reproduces a scene originally painted by David Teniers, in a strongly tenebrist manner, showing the alchemist in a shadowed room beneath the light of a single window. Engaged in reading, the alchemist may be…

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 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 lively and richly decorated chamber presents an alchemist's workshop which is busy, productive, and filled with customers and assistants. At center, the alchemist himself--dressed in a fine satin coat with slash…

This painting depicts a bustling and prosperous workshop showing a range of alchemical activities, from metallurgical work--such as the heating of a small crucible at lower left--to medical practices, demonstrated by…