01-16-2023, 11:36 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-16-2023, 11:52 PM by Paul Ferguson.)
If you have $239,239.96 to spare then you might like to invest in a copy of Domenico Beccafumi's La ricerca e lo sfruttamento dei metalli.
'The series begins with the gods observing the alchemist in his laboratory, proceeds via an initial meeting, to the gods alarm at possible capture and, perhaps, the intended use to be made of them and their properties, their capture and enchainment by the alchemist and, finally, the gods being lead to the anvil. The alchemist s assistant, most likely symbolic of Vulcan, does the work, while the alchemist in pensive mode, looks on as director, scholar and philosopher. The second group of five plates, while appearing to be simpler, at least in thematic terms, is made more complicated by having no clear pictorial conclusion.'
At Abebooks:
https://tinyurl.com/2s4jdd7j
I love the authoritative figure of the alchemist in these engravings, pushing the gods around, thus reversing the usual man-god paradigm, and getting the assistant to do all the hard work.
'The series begins with the gods observing the alchemist in his laboratory, proceeds via an initial meeting, to the gods alarm at possible capture and, perhaps, the intended use to be made of them and their properties, their capture and enchainment by the alchemist and, finally, the gods being lead to the anvil. The alchemist s assistant, most likely symbolic of Vulcan, does the work, while the alchemist in pensive mode, looks on as director, scholar and philosopher. The second group of five plates, while appearing to be simpler, at least in thematic terms, is made more complicated by having no clear pictorial conclusion.'
At Abebooks:
https://tinyurl.com/2s4jdd7j
I love the authoritative figure of the alchemist in these engravings, pushing the gods around, thus reversing the usual man-god paradigm, and getting the assistant to do all the hard work.
