An alchemist hunched over his crucible; an assistant reads him a recipe, watched by an onlooker; the alchemist's wife weeps in the dim background, a baby clasped to her breast. Coloured lithograph by Bouvier, 1830, after J. Steen.

  • Steen, Jan, 1626-1679.
Date:
January 1830
Reference:
35485i
  • Pictures
  • Online

Available online

view An alchemist hunched over his crucible; an assistant reads him a recipe, watched by an onlooker; the alchemist's wife weeps in the dim background, a baby clasped to her breast. Coloured lithograph by Bouvier, 1830, after J. Steen.

Public Domain Mark

You can use this work for any purpose without restriction under copyright law. Read more about this licence.

Credit

An alchemist hunched over his crucible; an assistant reads him a recipe, watched by an onlooker; the alchemist's wife weeps in the dim background, a baby clasped to her breast. Coloured lithograph by Bouvier, 1830, after J. Steen. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Selected images from this work

View 1 image

About this work

Description

After a painting by Steen known as 'The village alchemist', but with the removal of the weeping wife in the background. Above are suspended herbs, a cucurbite and drying laundry. The alchemist has typical 'bleary eyes' from long sustained efforts of watching his experiment, as described by Thomas Norton in his 'Ordinall of alchemy', 1477

Publication/Creation

London (34 Surry Street, Strand) : A. Friedel ; [Place of publication not identified] : Sold by all the principal book & printsellers in town & country, January 1830.

Physical description

1 print : lithograph, with watercolour

Lettering

The Dutch chymists. Les chymistes hollandois. J. Stein pinxt. Bouvier lith.o

Reference

Wellcome Collection 35485i

Type/Technique

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores

Permanent link