Wellcome uses cookies.

Read our policy
Wellcome Collection homepage
All
Stories
Images
Catalogue
274 results
  • An alchemist's laboratory: a young man drinks an elixir of life while the alchemist is incapacitated. Wood engraving by H.K. Browne (Phiz), 1865.
  • An alchemist reading in a smoky study. Etching by A. Bouquet after L-G-E. Isabey.
  • Alchemy: a furnace with nested vessels inside, and a sketch of another similar furnace. Watercolour, 1933, by V. Kaliba.
  • An infant blowing bellows into a furnace; allegory of the role of N. Lefevre in chemistry. Etching by J-G. Blanchon, 18th century, after Parisot.
  • Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum. Hoc est, Hermaea seu Mercurii festa ab heroibus duodenis selectis, artis chymicae usu, saientia et authoritate paribus celebrata, ad Pyrgopolynicen seu Adversarium illum tot annis iactabundum, virgini chemiae iniuriam argumentis tam vitiosis, quam convitiis argutis inferentem, confundendum et exarmandum ... ubi et artis continuatio et veritas invicta ... demonstratur, opus ... 12 libris explicatum et traditum / Authore Michaele Maiero.
  • Tripvs avrevs, hoc est, tres tractatvs chymici selectissimi, nempe I. Basilii Valentini ... Practica vna cum 12. clauibus & appendice, ex Germanico: II. Thomæ Nortoni ... Crede mihi seu ordinale, ante annos 140. ab authore scriptum, nunc ex anglicano manuscripto in latinum translatum, phrasi cuiusque authoris vt & sententia retenta; III. Cremeri cvivsdam ... Abbatus Westmonasteriensis ... Testamentum, hactenus nondum publicatum. Nunc in diuersarum nationum gratiam / editi, & figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati operâ & studio Michaelis Maieri.
  • The Hermetic androgyne; representing the stages of the alchemical Work in One. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs.
  • Thesaurus thesaurorum
  • Theo Heemskerk as an alchemist trying in vain to distill a report from members of a commission set up to reform the constitution of the Netherlands. Line block after J. Braakensiek, 1912.
  • Three-tiered symbolic diagram of the art of alchemy: top level, symbols of the states of matter; middle level, cabalistic diagrams; lower level, the two techniques of alchemy: distillation and calcination. Engraving by R. Custos, 1616.
  • A room of Quakers gossiping about the marriage of William Allen to Mrs. Grizell Birkbeck, seen on the left, affirming their vows. Coloured etching by R.I. Cruikshank, 1827.
  • A dwarf alchemist and his assistant standing by a crucible. Etching, 18th century.
  • William Pitt the younger as an alchemist using a crown-shaped bellows to blow the flames of a furnace and heat a glass vessel in which the House of Commons is distilled; representing the dissolution of parliament by Pitt. Coloured etching by J. Gillray, 1796.
  • An alchemist of the 'puffer' (uninitiated) type, surrounded by equipment. Engraving by W. French after D. Teniers the younger.
  • Integrum morborum mysterium, sive medicinæ catholicæ tomi primi tractatus secundus. [Pulsus seu nova et arcana pulsuum historia ... Hoc est, portionis tertiae pars tertia, de pulsuum scientia ... medicorum ... sive tomi primi tractatus secundi, sectio secunda, de morborum signis ... hoc est, divinatio per urinam.] In sectiones distributus duas : quorum ... / authore Robert Fludd, alias De Fluctibus.
  • A black man with a red head and right arm emerges from a foul stream into a landscape where a winged woman is waiting for him with a red garment; representing the transformations of the alchemical work from corruption to perfection. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs.
  • Early books on medicine, natural sciences and alchemy.
  • A three-headed eagle in a crowned alchemical flask, representing mercury sublimated three times. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs.
  • Integrum morborum mysterium, sive medicinæ catholicæ tomi primi tractatus secundus. [Pulsus seu nova et arcana pulsuum historia ... Hoc est, portionis tertiae pars tertia, de pulsuum scientia ... medicorum ... sive tomi primi tractatus secundi, sectio secunda, de morborum signis ... hoc est, divinatio per urinam.] In sectiones distributus duas : quorum ... / authore Robert Fludd, alias De Fluctibus.
  • Thesaurus thesaurorum
  • Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London: reconstruction of a sixteenth-century alchemist's laboratory. Photograph.
  • A three-headed eagle in a crowned alchemical flask, representing mercury sublimated three times. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs.
  • D.O.M.A. Alchymia Andreae Libavii, recognita, emendata, et aucta, tum dogmatibus et experimentis nonnullis; tum commentario medico physico-chymico: qui exornatus est variis instrumentorum chymicorum picturis; partim aliunde translatis, partim planè novis ... : praemissa defensione artis opposita censurae Parisianae.
  • Atalanta fvgiens, hoc est emblemata nova de secretis naturae chymica. Accommodata partim oculis & intellectui, figuris cupro incisis, adjectisqúe sententiis, epigrammatis & notis, partim auribus & recreationi animi plus minus 50 fugis musicalibus trium vocum, quarum duÆ ad unam simplicem melodiam distichis canendis peraptam, correspondeant ... / authore Michaele Majero.
  • A hooded alchemist at a furnace; above him hang dead animals: caricature. Watercolour painting.
  • Tripvs avrevs, hoc est, tres tractatvs chymici selectissimi, nempe I. Basilii Valentini ... Practica vna cum 12. clauibus & appendice, ex Germanico: II. Thomæ Nortoni ... Crede mihi seu ordinale, ante annos 140. ab authore scriptum, nunc ex anglicano manuscripto in latinum translatum, phrasi cuiusque authoris vt & sententia retenta; III. Cremeri cvivsdam ... Abbatus Westmonasteriensis ... Testamentum, hactenus nondum publicatum. Nunc in diuersarum nationum gratiam / editi, & figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati operâ & studio Michaelis Maieri.
  • A black sun with a face descends behind the horizon of a marshy landscape; representing the state of putrefaction in alchemy. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs.
  • An alchemist stoking a furnace, surrounded by well dressed onlookers: a banquet takes place in the background. Etching by C. Murer, ca. 1600-1614.
  • Basil Valentine contemplates a chemical jar containing homunculi of a man and woman holding hands, and a child emanating from them (alchemical symbol of conception); he is suddenly visited by Sabine Stuart de Chevalier, who reveals that she has the key to his works and crowns him as the king of alchemists. Etching by J. Le Roy, ca. 1781, after Hostoul after Sabine Stuart de Chevalier.
  • The Hermetic androgyne; representing the stages of the alchemical Work in One. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs.