An alchemist in his study with two assistants in the background

The practice of alchemy, a blend of philosophy, magic, chemistry, and astrology, flourished in Early Modern Europe. Its practitioners famously sought the secret to transform lead into gold and to discover the elixir of life. Elias Ashmole, Tycho Brahe and Issac Newton all published alchemical texts in addition to their early scientific discoveries. Thomas Wijck favored the subject of the alchemist’s study and painted it on numerous occasions. The glass alembic perched atop a furnace in the foreground, the piles of texts, and the exotic reptile hanging from the ceiling are all common symbols of the alchemist’s trade and appear in many of Wijck’s compositions, including examples at The Menil Collection, Houston (inv. no. 1967-31), The Mauritshuis, The Hague (inv. no. 469) and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (inv. no. SK-A-489).