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The Alchemist

  • 1600s

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BY 4.0

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In this painting, the alchemist's face shows confusion as he studies a text, holding a flask of liquid. His young assistant stands close by and watches attentively. A collapsing pile of open books and loose pages spills across the table, while on the floor many broken earthenware vessels and jugs lie discarded amidst loose straw. At right, a distillation vessel sits in a stand over a pile of firewood. This humble, rustic interior is completed with a furnace at left, tended by two assistants.

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  • 45.7 cm H x 58.4 cm W
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Rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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  • Courtesy of Science History Institute
Additional credit
  • Photographed by Will Brown

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van Helmont, Mattheus. The Alchemist. Oil paint (paint), canvas (textile material), 1600–1699. Science History Institute. Philadelphia. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/00000005c.

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