The paintings derive from Johann Theodor Bry's engravings of Emblemata XXv - XXVII, entitled Drace non moriter nisi cum fratre & sorore sua interficiatur, qui sunt sold & Luna; Sapientiae humanae fructus lignum vitae est and Qui Rosarium intrare conatur Philosophicum absque clave, assimilatus nomini ambulare volenti absq. pedibus in Michael Marer's book Atalanta Fugiens or Emblemata nova de Secretis Naturae of 1617. Michael Maier (1568-1622) was a famous alchemist and physician to Emperor Rudolph II