This is early series of ten woodcuts by Domenico Beccafumi, also known as Meracino or Mecuccio. He was working in the early decades of the 16th century in Siena, and these woodcuts are thought to date to the period 1525-1540. They show a process in which the philosopher-alchemist and the laboratory worker-alchemist, begin by finding the seven metals, personified as Greek Gods lurking in the mountains, gathering these and leading them through a transformation process in the laboratory. These are amongst the earliest printed depictions of alchemical imagery.
INDEX Lambspring Thurneisser Mylius Valentine Khunrath Hermaphrodite child Mutus liber Atalanta Petrus Bonus Rosary Terrestrial astronomy Splendor solis Doorkeeper Pandora Eleazar Valentine Azoth Orthelius Speculum Fludd cosmos Mylius Rosary Boehme Mylius Azoth Mylius Donum Norton Crowning Beccafumi Hildebrandt van Helpen Eleazar Donum Geber Ecker Viatorium Bugia Freher
All these images are copyright © Adam McLean 1999-2010. These are now available in my book Coloured Alchemical Sequences available from my Blurb shop .