The Alchemist in His Workshop
- After 1600 – before 1800
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 sleeves--sits examining a flask of urine for a young female customer and her older chaperone. A table covered with a luxurious carpet and many books sits before him, as well as a celestial globe and numerous earthenware vessels. At left and right, young assistants carry jars and tend small braziers with bellows. The shop is decorated with a paper print pinned to a beam, a taxidermied reptile specimen hung from above, and shelves of glassware. To the back of the scene, a small crowd surrounds a dentist and his patient to watch a tooth being pulled.
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(sale, Christie's London, 20 July, 1990, lot 112). Spectrum Laboratories, Rancho Dominguez, CA, 1990-2000, acquired by Roy Eddleman. The Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2000 (from Eddleman/Spectrum). |
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| Rights | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License |
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Cite as
Bossche, Balthasar van den. The Alchemist in His Workshop. Oil paint (paint), canvas (textile material), n.d. Science History Institute. Philadelphia. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/t722h880z.
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