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An Alchemist at Work

  • 1600s

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BY 4.0

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A bearded alchemist is seated at a small bench, holding up a pair of spectacles to read a manuscript. Vessels, books, straw, and apparatus are scattered on the floor. In the right background an assistant carries a bucket toward the furnace. In the left background three men are standing around a vessel.

Artist
Provenance

[Galerie Fischer, Lucerne, Switzerland, 4/6 November 1986, lot no. 1457, (as a pair with FA 2000.003.036)].

Alfred Bader, Milwaukee, WI, 4/6 November 1986-5 January, 1993 (to Eddleman). [1]

Spectrum Laboratories, Rancho Dominguez, CA, acquired by Roy Eddleman (from Bader), 1993-2000.

The Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2000 (from Eddleman/Spectrum).

[1] This painting appeared with FA 2000.003.036 as illustrations in a 1991 catalogue of Flourinated Products from Aldrich Chemical Company, founded by Alfred Bader.
Format
Genre
Medium
Extent
  • 109.2 cm H x 149.9 cm W
Inscription
  • (Lower left quadrant) "Signed name "MV Hellemont""
Subject
Rights Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Credit line
  • Courtesy of Science History Institute

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Cite as

van Helmont, Mattheus. An Alchemist at Work. Oil paint (paint), canvas (textile material), 1600–1699. Science History Institute. Philadelphia. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/f7623d391.

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