REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NETHERLANDISH ALCHEMICAL GENRE PAINTING

ELIZABETH OWAHONEY

TWO VOLUMES VOLUMEI

PH.D.

THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK

HISTORY OF ART

DECEMBER 2005 ABSTRACT

This thesis exploresthe depiction of genderin seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish genre paintings of the alchemist's or, more properly, the chymist's workshop. Derived primarily from the holdings of the Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia and the Wellcome Library, London, the paintings examinedby this project representa significant componentof Netherlandishgenre art, neglectedalmost entirely by critics.

Of profound significanceto alchemicalphilosophy and emblematicart, genderalso plays a pivotal role in seventeenth-centurygenre paintings of the chymist's workshop. Expounding the nuancesof complex alchemicaldiscourse, this thesis exploresthe dynamic and often binaristic relationshipsbetween the 'male' and 'female' in thesescenes.

Structured around the basic contentionthat all representationsof focal femalesin such paintings can be placed into one of four categories- Domestic Disquiet, Domestic Quiet, Patient and Chyrnical Worker - this thesisconsists of four chapters. Investigatingthe four categorizations,these chapters explore the extent and significance of genderedemblematicism in relation to traditional alchemicalsymbolism and Dutch Emblemata. The first chapter examinesfemale disquiet in pictures of the chrysopoeianworkshop and traces emblematic femalesin early modem emblembooks and genreprints. Focusing on depictionsof the feminine ideal in paintings by Thomas Wijck, the secondchapter reinterpretsthe notion of the 'chymical marriage' within genrescenes of alchemicalscholarship. Exploring symbols of alchemicalemblematic art, the third chapter discussespaintings of the iatrochernistand reconsidersthe female as a symbol of fertility. The fourth and final chapter examinesthe depiction of the ostensiblefemale chyrnist in the work of Thomas Wijck and David Ryckaert 1111.

This thesis,then, excavatesthe symbolic nature of genderin chyrnical painting, and in doing so suggeststhat alchemicalsymbolism and philosophy might translate,to a limited degree,to genreart.

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

Volume I

Abstract 2

Acknowledgments 4

Note 5

Introduction: 6

Part I 7 Part H 26

Emblemataand Domestic Discord: 45 FemaleDisquiet and Emblematic Intertextuality.

H Pater et materfamilias: 74 DomesticQuiet in Paintingsof the Thymical Marriage'.

]ER Piskijkenand Pisse-Prophets: 107 EmblematicWomen in Paintingsof the Chymical-Uroscopist'sWorkshop.

IV SororMystica: 143 Factoringthe Female Worker, Maid or Magus.

Conclusion 174

Bibliography:

Primary Sources. 187 SecondarySources. 192

Volume 11

Iflustrations

3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author gratefully acknowledgesthe financial and technical assistanceoffered by the following individuals and organisations:

Mr Paul Thomson,London.

Mr and Mrs David Thomson, Sunningdale,Berkshire.

The Wellcome Trust, London.

Ms Maýorie Gapp and the Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia.

Dr Katherine O'Mahoney, London.

The Alchemy Web Site,

Adam McLean and the Alchemy AcademyMembers.

4 Note:

Picture Measurements:

Where picture measurementshave beenstated, this thesis has reproducedexactly the information offered by the holding institution. It has beennoted in the courseof researchthat many collectors, in translating measurementsbetween metric and imperial scales,have been inexact in their calculations. In order not to contribute further to this inaccuracy,this thesis doesnot subscribeto a single systemof scale,but replicatesthe measurementsin the conventionadopted by eachinstitution.

Catalogue References:

To enableeasy referencefor future scholars,this thesis has reproducedthe cataloguing information offered by the holding institution or private individual. Where the opinions of the holding institution and the author diverge strongly, an additional explanatory note is included to clarify andjustify re-attribution. Every care has beentaken to highlight erroneous attribution whereverpossible.

Many of the paintings examinedby this thesis belong to the WellcorneLibrary, London. As the Wellcome Library doesnot ascribe titles to many of its holdings, this thesis usesthe short descriptionsprovided by the Library in place of titles.

Translations:

Unless otherwisestated, all translationscontained within the thesis are the author's own.

Author's Declaration:

This thesis is the product of the author's original and non-collaborativework. None of the researchor writing containedherein has beenpresented previously in any context.

5 INTRODUCTION

Wheresoeverwe have spokenplainly, there we have spokennothing, but where we ' have used riddles and figures, there we have hidden the truth.

Through a cryptic and mutable corpus of imagery, alchemistsfor centuriessought to convey, and yet contain, the secretsof the Great Work. Preservingthe alchemicaltruth from "ungodly, foolish, slouthful and unthankefull hypocrites", medievaltreatises encrypted their esotericrituals in obscureallusion to greenlions, white geese,black ravens,black toads, 2 peacocksand hermaphrodites. At the heart of this curious symbology lay the sovereign figures of the White Queenand Red King. Exemplars of a denseand largely impenetrable pictorial tradition, theseantithetical monarchsembody the essentiallybinaristic characterof alchemicalphilosophy. For generations,this peculiar alchemicaliconography was confined to manuscriptform. During the early modem period, however, a new type of alchemicalart evolvedin the Netherlands. With the emergenceof genrepainting, chymical activity beganto feature with regularity in works by the commercially consciousartists of the early seventeenth century. With a similar attention to emblems,their scenesof the chyrnical workshop betray a sharedinterest in philosophiesof gender. Exploring the sharedemblematics of alchemical philosophy and early modem conduct books, this thesis examinesthe depiction of genderin seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish chyrnical genrepainting.

This project demandsextensive introduction, due to its interdisciplinary nature and the complexity of alchemicalculture. For this reason,the following introduction is in two parts. Part I outlines the fundamentalarguments of this thesis and expoundsits methodology. In addition, this sectiondelineates current criticism in this area and offers a historical and sociological context for its discussionof alchemicalgenre painting. 3 Furthermore,it presents sometechnical issueswhich have arisen during the courseof research. Part R is concerned solely with alchemy. This sectionserves to explicate the intricacies of alchemicalculture and philosophy in the early modem period. Outlining difficulties inherentto the field, specifically in relation to terminology and definition, this sectionalso describesthe variety and significanceof alchemicalart, and exan-finesthe fernaleprinciple within.

1McLean, 1980: 47. 2 Bostocke, 1585: Sig. CW. 3 The phrase 'alchemical genre painting' is defined fully in section I of Introduction Part 11:31-32.

6 PART I

1 Basic Premise

Underpinningall derivative argumentsin this thesis lies the basic contentionthat all representationsof focal femalesin seventeenth-centurychymical genrepainting can be placed into one of four categories:Domestic Disquiet, Domestic Quiet, Patient and Chymical Worker. Investigatingthese four categorizations,the four chaptersexplore the extent and significanceof genderedemblematicism in relation to traditional chyrnical art and Dutch Emblemata. This thesis,then, excavatesthe symbolic nature of genderin chyrnical painting, and in doing so suggeststhat alchemicalsymbolism and philosophy might translate, to a limited degree,to genreart. The numeroussubsidiary conclusionsthat emergeby the close of this thesis are summarizedand clarified in the conclusion. The following sectionoutlines in brief the material substanceof the four chapters.

The openingchapter of this thesis, 'Emblemata and Domestic Discord', introducesthe first of four femalecategorizations evident in alchemicalgenre painting. Examining gender dynamicsin the alchemicalpaintings of Hendrick Heerschop,Jan Steen,Richard Brakenburgh,Adriaen van de Venne and Adriaen van Ostade,this chapter exploresthe developmentand origin of specific portraits of domesticdiscord and their relationshipto alchemicaltheory. Thesepaintings, which are united through the satirization of their subject, all employ the female in an unequivocalcondemnation of 'chrysopoeia' or transmutational alchemy. The emblemiconography of the period and the prints of Pieter Bruegel the Elder are usedto explore the broader cultural resonanceof genderedsymbols in theseworks.

By contrast, Chapter111, 'Pater et materfamilias', examinesscenes of 'esoteric' or, in this case, scholarly alchemy. Thesescenes are consistentlycharacterized by themesof domestic harmony and genderequilibrium. Expressingthe domesticideals of the Republic, these paintings, principally by the Dutch painter Thomas Wijck, convey an admiration for measured alchemicalscholarship. Here, the thesis considersimages of femaledomesticity and male scholarshipin relation to their chymical context. In line with Chapter I, the male and female are located within an emblematictradition and, specifically, within a wider systemof alchemicalsymbology.

Chapter 191encompasses a separatebranch of chymistry in its analysis of 'iatrochemical', or rnedical-alchernical,paintings. 'PisIdjken and Pisse-Prophets'evaluates the fermle as a

7 symbol of fertility and pregnancy. More specifically, this sectionaddresses the emblematic identity of female patientsin paintings of the chyrnical-uroscopist'sworkshop. In its survey of paintings by Egbert van Heemskerckthe Younger, Mattheus van Helmont, Gerard Thomas and Balthasar van den Bossche,'Pisldjken and Pisse-Prophets'situates female imagery within an iconographicaltradition of reiteration and reference. Furthermore,this sectioncharts the decline of chymistry and uroscopy in paintings of the early eighteenthcentury.

As the closing contribution to this thesis, Chapter IV investigatesthe remainingcategorization of women. 'Soror Mystica' analysesrepresentations of the female chymical worker in paintings by the SouthernNetherlandish artist David Ryckaert III and by Thomas Wijck. Siting the worker within an ancient lineageof female chyrnistry, this study attendsto the ambiguousrepresentation of the woman chymist in genrepainting. The chapter concludesby uncoveringthe only incontrovertible representationof a female chymical worker in genre painting.

Collectively, thesechapters expound the restricted variation of female symbolism in chymical genrepainting, locating genderedemblems within the iconographicaltraditions of Dutch emblemataand alchemicalsymbology. In particular, thesechapters explore the complex genderedbinarism of alchemicalphilosophy in relation to genrepainting. A primary aim of this thesis is to broadenthe cultural context through which thesepaintings may be read. The methodologiesdeveloped in recentdecades, which will be discussedin the following section, have limited the critical reach of art historians. By contrast, this thesis offers an inclusive interpretativeapproach which incorporatesalchemical symbologies in addition to traditional Netherlandishemblemata.

2 Methodology

2.1 Iconology of Dutch Painting

During the nineteenthcentury, the study of Netherlandishpainting was dominatedby the 4 mutable conceptof 'Realism'. Consistently,historians interpretedNetherlandish painting as a mirror of contemporaryfife and, understandablytherefore, considered genre painting a prize

4 The term 'Realism' is problematic and has engenderedmuch debateover the last two decades. Eric Jan Sluijter has suggestedabandoning the term altogether, while David Smith has reinterpreted it as a narrative, which exposesthe relationship between 'characters'. SeeSluijter, 1990: 3: 5-39; Smith, 1990. coffer of documentarytruths. 5 Dominated by French cultural commentators,the Realism debateencompassed both art and literature and prompted a revival in the critical field of Netherlandishpainting. On the cusp of the twentieth century, however,a new iconological trend emergedin a pursuit of allegorical meaning. Theorists, such as Aby Warburg, developedan iconological reading of art through the use of contemporaryliterary materials.6 This excavationof meaningthrough a comprehensivecultural contextualizationwas far removedfrom the Realist readingsof just a few years previously. But this embryonic iconographicalapproach was to set the methodologicaltone for criticism of Netherlandish genreart for the following century. From the earliest years of the twentieth century, the study of Netherlandishart was characterizedby a focus on the conceptof covert symbolism. Numerous writers, most notably Erwin Panofsky,embarked upon a quest to uncover and decipherthe symbols seeminglyhidden amongst the innocuousscenes of classical, historical, and religious subjects.7 With the publication of Studies in IconologyBin 1939 and then Early Netherlandish Painting in 1953, Panofsky placed unprecedentedemphasis on iconography and "concealedor disguisedsymbolisrrf' in NetherlandisharL9 As a consequenceof Panofskianiconography, the latter half of the twentieth century bore witnessto a revolution in both the methodologiesof Netherlandishgenre painting criticism and its associated historiographies. By the 1960s,Panofsky's prioritization of 'meaning' over form or style dominatedthe critical climate. Significant moderationsto this founding theory arrived with the highly influential Eddy de Jongh and Jan Emmensof the KunsthistorischInstituut in Utrecht. In 1971, de Jongh outlined a methodologywhich honedthe symbolist dimensionof Panofsky iconography. In responseto Panofsky's conceptof "disguised symbolisa' the pretenderadvocated the term "schijnreaHsrW' or "apparent realisrrf'.10 WhereasPanofsky primarily developedhis theoriesthrough a study of Renaissancereligious art, de Jongh illustrated his new techniquesthrough the portrait and genrepainting of the seventeenth century. Crucially, the emblematiccontent of contemporarycultural forms, specifically the popular emblembooks and proverb prints of the period, were central to de Jonghiantheory.

Originating in sixteenth-centuryItaly, the emblembook spreadrapidly throughout Europe, achievingparticularly strong currency in the Dutch Republic. By the seventeenthcentury, the emblembook had relatively little geographicalvariation, consistingof a motto or 'lemma', a picture and an epigrammatic,clarifying text. The explanatory text, commonly a short verse,

5 See,for example, Fromentin, 1913. 6 SeeRampley, 1997: 41-55; Iversen, 1993: 541-53; Bredekamp and Diers eds., 1998. 7 See,for example, Kauffmann, 1943: 135-57; Rudolf, 1938: 405-33. 8 Panofsky, 1939. 9 Panofsky, 1971,1: 141. 10De Jongh, 1971: 143-94.

9 clarified the relationshipbetween the lemma and the usually cryptic picture. The combined didactic ensemble,which often featured diverse allegorical and biblical references,instructed the readeron conductinga virtuous or socially responsiblelife. Radically, de Jongh argued 11 that theseEmblemata could offer an interpretativecontext for contemporarygenre paintings. A celebratoryexhibition organizedby the Utrecht School at the Rijksmuseumin 1976 expressedthis emblematicideology through the succinct, and now famous, title, "Tot lering en vermaak" or "To teach and to entertaiif'. 12 Correlating the pictorial content of genre painting with Emblemata,de Jongh also alignedtheir respectivedidactic intentions. Undoubtedly,the importanceof emblemliterature to contemporaneouspainting had been overlookedfor too long. In a recently publishedhistory of the emblem,John Manning asserts that:

One cannot understatethe variety as well as the persuasivenessof emblematicmodes of thought and expressionduring this period. Without exaggeration,from Catholic Spain to ProtestantNetherlands and from England to Russia the emblemimpinged on every aspectof EuropeanRenaissance and Baroque life - and death. Over 2,000 titles of printed books in who knows how many editions, manuscriptsand various printed ephemeraare only part of the surviving legacy of a phenomenathat decorated every aspectof domesticand civil life, however noble, howevermenial. 13

The capacity of the Dutch emblemto articulate meaningis clearly demonstratedby Gerrit Dou's Quack (Fig. 1), which illustrates the explicit correlation betweenemblem literature and painting.14 While neatly exemplifying the seventeenth-centuryemblematic compulsion, The Quack is somewhatatypical of the genre. Rather than exploiting the didacticism of emblem literature, Dou manipulatesthe familiar iconographyin a wry commenton the enthusiastically analytical collectors of the period. The painting contains a motley crew of children, peddlers 15 and evenmonkeys, all taken directly from the pagesof Dutch emblembooks. This is a confusing, crowded scene,full of unspokenand unrelatedproverbs, where eventhe trees and shrubshave a specific tale to tell. Whereasearly modem Dutch paintings commonly use emblematicreference to convey a simple moral message,this chaotic scenecannot be reduced to a single palatableprinciple. Unusually, while incorporating standardmotifs of Emblemata,

" For clarification of current de Jonghian theory, seede Jongh, 1995 or, for the English version, de Jongh, 2000. 12Bedaux and de Jongh, 1976. 13Manning, 2002: 16. 14Gerrit Dou, The Quack, 1652, Museum Boymans-vanBeuningen, Rotterdam. Oil on panel, 112 cm x 83 cm. Signed: Gdov 1652. Provenance:presented to Museum Boymans in 1939; W. van der Vorm, Rotterdam; Arthur Goldschmidt; Elector Maximilian IV Joseph(d. 1815), Dfisseldorf and Munich; Elector Carl Ileodor (d. 1799), DUsseldorf;Elector Carl Philipp (d. 1742), DUsseldorf,Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine (d. 1716), Diisseldorf. 15For further analysis of this painting seeEmmens, 1971: 4a-4b.

10 The Quack gently mocks the meticulously iconological approachof the seventeenth-century buyer and also, perhaps,the late twentieth-centuryscholar.

Inevitably, the flaws inherentto de Jonghiantheory were quickly identified. While numerous opponentsof the school emergedduring the 1980s,the most significant of thesewas probably SvetlanaAlpers. Reacting againstwhat she reductively, and inaccurately,termed "emblematic interpretation7',Alpers offered a theoretical countermodel.in her 1983 16 publication The Art of Describing. Here, Alpers suggestedthat seventeenth-centuryDutch painting was dominatednot by emblematicmeaning, as Panofsky and de Jonghhad suggested,but rather by descriptiveintention. Emphasizingthe significanceof optical and cartographicaltechniques, Alpers identified painting as a medium through which the Dutch viewer could better 'know' the world. The years following the publication of The Art of Describing were characterizedby a polarized debate,which included the iconographical 7 theorists of the de Jonghianschool and the new advocatesof descriptivemethodology., By the 1990s,efforts were directedtowards resolution and clarification; in particular, critics addressedthe issue of 'realisrW and the associatedproblems of definition.18 While the nuclear issue of 'realism' remainedconfused, this decadeyielded a new and varied body of $realist' criticism. Resumingthe scientific, and specifically optical, ideology of Alpers, severalhistorians explored the use of cameraobscura in paintings by Vermeer, while numerousothers examined the botanical, zoological and medical contentof the wider corpus of Netherlandishpainting. 19

In the last decade,argument between the two prevailing theoretical schoolshas certainly calmed; scholarstoday often refrain from expressinga methodologyaltogether, content insteadto provide neat historiographiesof twentieth-centurycriticism. 20 On closer examination,however, recent studiestend to reveal a sharedreconciliatory methodology. Acknowledgingthe limitations of de Jonghiantheory, art historians nonethelessrecognize an important emblematicdimension to genrepainting. Concurrently, most recent studiesalso admit the necessityof the descriptivetheory advocatedby Alpers.

16Alpers, 1983: 229. 17For a summary of the debatesduring this period seeChapman, 1997: 329-34; Franits, 1995: 11-17. 18See, for example, de Vries, 1991: 209-48. 19'Realist' literature of the 1990sis diverse in both subject and methodology. It includes Freedbcrg, 1991: 377-428; Swan, 1998; Swan, 1997; Steadman,2001: 27-28; Wheelock, 1977; Liedtke, 1982; Kemp, 1990; Ruurs, 1987. 20Perhaps the most useful historiography produced in recent years is Westermann, 2002: 351-72. Others include Sluijter, 1998: 23145; Liedtke, 2000: 207-20; Grijzenhout and van Veen eds., 1999; Franits ed., 1997.

11 In a climate of vocal historiographersand silent theorists, it is perhapsmore important than ever to articulate clearly an operationalmethodology. In line with current research,this thesis assumesa reconciliatory approachin its interpretation of genrepainting. In essence,its methodologicalconstruction corresponds approximately to the majority of recent studieson Netherlandishart. However, as many of them do not explicate their theoretical foundation, and as this thesis possessesa nuancedinterpretative approach,a theoreticalsynopsis is required. Essentially, then, recognizingNetherlandish genre paintings as independent constructedfictions comprisedof fictive elements,this thesis might be termed 'contra-realist. This approach,which absolvesitself from the various debatesof realisms,is derived from the premisethat genreart, whether intentionally inventive or not, inevitably contains fictions shapedby its storyteller. Whereassome scholars have explored the socio-historical 'truths' suggestedby genrepainting, this study exanines it as a purely cultural product. Essentialto this examinationis a significantly post-deJonghian emblematicism; drawing on a wide variety of cultural material, the emblemplays an important role in this exploration of alchemicalgenre scenes. Significantly, however, this study usesthe emblemto inform the reading of paintings rather than to dictate 'meaning'. Thus, while resisting the strict, prescriptive emblematicmethod of de Jongh,this thesis extendsthe cultural conceptionof alchemicalgenre painting, embracinga more inclusive emblematiccontext.

2.2 Theoriesof Genderin GenrePainting

In 2002, Mariet Westermannnoted that genderstudies has affectedthe field of Netherlandish 21 an "in surprisingly limited fashion". In the three years since this statement,little has changed. During the 1970s and 1980s,the emerginggeneration of 'gender' theorists focused on the historiography of Dutch art and on the recovery of female artists and their dormant oeuvre.22 In 1976, Linda Nochlin and Ann SutherlandHarris coordinatedthe renowned radical exhibition "Women Artists 1550-1950" which aimed to reinstatethe female painters forgotten by masculinehistoriography-23 This showcaseinvigorated study of the artists featuredtherein, with Judith Leyster, in particular, drawing special attention.24 In distinct contrast to the feminist theory evolving in other quarters, the newly gender-consciouscritics

21Westermann, 2002: 359. 22niS thesis is reluctant to apply the term 'feminist' in relation to Netherlandish genre painting. Although numerousart historians apply the term to Netherlandish art, it has beenused so broadly that it precludesuseful function within the very narrow gender methodology of Netherlandish genre art. As early as 1988, Joan W. Scott noted of "the new knowledge about women" that "the production of this knowledge is marked by remarkable diversity in topic, method, and interpretation, so much so that it is impossible to reduce the field to a single interpretive or theoretical stance." Wallach Scott, 1988: 16. On the "multiplicity of meaning" in this field seeHawkesworth, 1997: 649-85. 23Nochlin and Sutherland Harris, 1976. 24Fox Hofrichter, 1989; Ixyster, 1993; Biesboer and Welu eds., 1993.

12 of Netherlandishpainting adopteda conspicuouslyNew Historicist approachto their subject. While critics excavatedand evaluatedthe lives of the female artists they uncovered,paintings were examinedin terms of the socio-historical issuespotentially containedwithin. The disparity betweenthe narrow contextual approachin the field of Netherlandishart and the multi-faceted and exploratory criticism of modem and post-modemvisual culture during the 1980swas vast and remainsa curiosity.25 By the mid-1990s, genderedreadings of Netherlandishgenre art emergedprimarily through an assessmentof domesticimagery and genderedspace. 26 As the decadecontinued, gender criticism centredupon the socially didactic role of paintings. To varying degrees,Wayne Franits, NanetteSalomon, Elizabeth Honig, Mariet Westermannand Alison Kettering, among others, examinedNetherlandish genrepainting as a tool for the fashioning of social attitudes.27 Criticism into the twenty-first century has, for the most part, maintainedthis socio-historical approach. In a discussionof "Masculine and FeminineSpaces", Martha Hollander evincesthe significanceof gender balancein Dutch society,28 while Klaske Muizelaar and Derek Phillips explore how paintings reflected and influencedthe domesticand imaginative lives of their contemporaryviewers. 29

In many ways, this thesis is far removedfrom this current socio-historicaltrend. Essentially, it is concernedwith the abstractionor symbolic characterof gender. In recognizingthe constructedfiction of painting, this thesis primarily expoundsthe ideological significanceof genderwithin the context of Netherlandishvisual culture and alchemicalsymbology. While cognizantof historical context, this presentstudy draws limited sociologicalconclusions from its findings. However, in accordancewith most current criticism of genderin early modem genrepainting, this project is 'gender sensible', rather than 'feminist'. While examining a male conceptionof gender,it doesnot aim to locate its conclusionswithin a broader historical or sociological context of feminist argument. For the most part then, this thesis is not concernedwith 'women', but with the 'Female'.30

25As the previous section explicates, the 1980s and 1990switnessed a protracted and consuming debateabout 'realisms'. Problems of semanticsand the absenceof a sharedoperational vocabulary perhapshindered the advancementof 6ý more experimental criticisms. Literature on domestic imagery generally maintained the cultural historicist approachof earlier years, expounding, in particular, the social role of thesepaintings. These studies include Franits, 1995; Franits, 2WO: 295-316; Hollander, 20W: 273-93. 27Franits, 1995; Franits, 2000: 295-316; Hollander, 2000: 273-93; Salomon, 2004; Kettering, 1993: 93- 124; Westermann, 2001: 15-81; Honig, 1997: 187-201. 28Hollander, 2002. 29Muizelaar and Phillips, 2003. 30The conception of the 'Female' is explained more fully in relation to alchemical symbology in Introduction Part R: 42-44.

13 2.3 Genderand Scienceand Problemsof Terminology

When in 1978 Evelyn Fox Keller introduced the term "gender and scien&'31 in a psychoanalyticaljournal, she semanticallylaunched a new subspecialityin the field of, what 932 she and others called, "feminist theory. Soon after the publication of this inaugural paper, the subject of "gender and science' appropriateda specifically historical perspective. Representinga landmark stagein the evolution of the discipline, Carolyn Merchant, a Marxist, feminist ecologist,published The Death ofNature: Women,Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution in 1980.33In this broad and controversialcritique of the scientific revolution, Merchant explored the metaphorof nature as woman. Describing the usurpation of "organismic theory" by a "mechanist" world view, Merchant suggestedthat the scientific revolution representedthe wide-rangingand ruinous exploitation of the female.34 Interestingly for this thesis, she addressedbriefly Gnostic philosophy, and "its assignmentof equal importanceto male and female principles in generation"in alchemicaltreatises. 35 Writing of the new mechanicalphilosophy, Merchant assertedthat "the Neoplatonic female world soul, the internal sourceof activity in nature, would disappear,to be replacedby a in 36 rMe Death carefully contrived mechanismof subtle particles motiont'. publication of of Nature testified to and further encouragedthe attraction of feminist scientistsand social scientiststo the historical. Fox Keller, originally a mathematicalbiophysicist, respondedwith the equally ground-breakingReflections on Gender and Sciencewhich explored, in part, historical conceptionsof genderand the genderingof science.37 By 1990, a vast and complex literature on the historical dimensionsof genderand sciencehad evolved.38

While this thesis draws on the disparateliteratures of the "gender and science' subspeciality, it possibly benefits most from the qualifying vocabulariesoffered by critics in this quarter during the late 1990s. Surprisingly, historians of seventeenth-centurygenre painting are reluctant to define their operationalterminology. This unwillingnessto explicate is particularly intriguing given the complexitiesand open debatessurrounding the languageof genderin academia. Thus, to facilitate accuratecomprehension of the argumentscontained within, the Mowing sectiondelineates briefly this thesis' theorization of gender. While

31Fox Keller, 1978: 409-33. 32Fox Keller, 1995: 28. 33Merchant, 1980. 34Merchant, 1990: 1. 35 Merchant, 1990: 17. Importantly, however, this aspectof her argument has beenjustifiably attacked for its simplistic representationgender of alchemy. SeeNewman, 1998: 216-26. 36Merchant, 1990: 20. 37FOX Keller, 1985. 38These disparate texts include Jordanova, 1989; Schiebinger, 1989; Laqueur, 1990; Rossiter, 1982; Fox Keller, 1983.

14 recognizingthe necessityof "cultural specificity and historical variability" in gender narratives, this thesis fixes its vocabulary within a rigid, interpretativeframework. 39 Primarily, this languageis bound to a seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish ideation of genderin genrepainting, and to its operationwithin a strict culture of visual symbology. Acknowledging and acceptingJudith Butler's anti-binarist theorization of gender,this thesis nonethelessrecognizes the binaristic identities of 'male' and 'female' both within Us specific cultural symbology and within alchemicalphilosophy. 40 In its use of the terms 'gender'. 'female', 'male', 'masculinity' and 'femininity', this project alludesto an early modem cultural, and mainly alchemical,abstraction of correspondingsocietal and biological conceptions. Wherever its discourseencompasses discussions of men and womenin Netherlandishsociety, this thesis clearly identifies a transition in both its vocabulary and treatmentof 'gender.

3 Current Criticism

Embracing severaldifferent subject fields, this thesis has benefitedfrom a broad range of criticism, from studiesin chemistry to gendertheory. The most relevant materials in all these areasemerge explicitly throughout the courseof the thesis. The following sections,however, summarizethe state of researchin two areaswhich require early introduction.

3.1 Seventeenth-CenturyNetherlandish Chymical GenrePainting

Only tentative stepshave beentaken to examineNetherlandish chymical genrepainting, although countlessexamples survive, often in excellentcondition. A formidable study of immensevalue, Jacquesvan Lennep'sAlchimie examinescarefully the entire history of 41 However, Lennep's interest is alchemicalart . as van main area of traditional emblematic illustration, sixteenth-and seventeenth-centurypaintings are discussedonly briefly. Forming the foundation of alchemical genrecriticism, however,is the frequently cited Alchemist in Life, Literature, and Art by John Read.42 Publishedin 1947, this book containsthe mainly descriptivechapter 'The Alchemist In Art', which introducesbriefly the foremostalchemical genreartists of the early modernperiod. Although this remainsan important contribution, Read's volume is outdatedand, in parts, simplistic. In contrast, the most recentscholarly

39Hawkesworth, 1997: 681. For a discussion of the necessityof "genuine historicization and deconstruction" of terms seeScott, 1986: 1065. 40Butler, 1999: 3-33. 41Van Unnep, 1985: 360-66. 42Read, 1947: 56-84.

15 contribution to the field is the doctoral thesisPainted Science: Conventionand Change in Seventeenth-CenturyNetherlandish Paintings ofAlchemists, Physicians and Astronomers.43 In this fascinating study, JaneRussell Corbett dedicatestwo chaptersto paintings of chymists at work, focusing on the pictorial conventionsgoverning the theme,and tracing the way in which variants were producedthroughout the seventeenthcentury. 44 Unfortunately, this exceRentsurvey doesnot encompassa discussionof genderissues.

Publishedin 2002, Transmutations:Alchemy in Art is also a valuable aid to studentsof chymical genreart. 45 This forty-page study by Lawrence M. Principe and Lloyd DeWitt reviews the Eddlemanand Fisher Collections, held by the Chemical Heritage Foundationin Philadelphia. VVWleof significant value to the field, this booklet essentiallyainis to introduce an uninitiated audienceto the subject of alchemyand to paintings specific to the collection. While achievingits objective, this concisestudy is limited in both scopeand scholarly analysis. Precedingthis publication, Aaron Sheonproduced an article on part of the collection in the pamphlet which accompaniedthe exhibition of the paintings at the Franklin Institute in 1973.46Again, while this article competentlyintroduces the contentsof the show, it lacks both scopeand academicdepth in its discussionof chymical paintings.

In their researchof specific painters, somescholars have addressedindividual chyrnical scenes,but they have generallyfailed to considerthis class of painting as a whole. These specializedstudies, which most notably take Jan Steen,David Teniers, ThomasWijck and David Ryckaert as their subjects,are all referencedfully in this thesis. AmbLr, a journal for the history of alchemyand chemistry, has also publisheda number of relevant articles. 'The Iconographyof the Laboratory' by C. R. I-Ell, for example,concerns itself chiefly with the technical instrumentsand processesfeatured in chymical genrepainting. 47 In addition, 'I Am The PoisonDripping Dragon' by JaneP. Davidson examinesthe significanceof iguanasin the alchemicaland occult paintings of David Teniers U." Despitethe undoubtedcontribution of such papersto the subject in general,these highly specializedstudies offer little to scholars of genderin alchemy.

43Russell Corbett, 2004. 44 An article summarizing Russell Corbett's discussion of alchemist paintings will appearas 'Convention and Change in Seventeenth-CenturyDepictions of Alchemists' in Wamberg ed., 2005: 195-212. 45Principe and DeWitt, 2002. 46Sheon, 1973. 47 IEII, 1975: 102-10. 48Davidson, 1987: 62-80.

16 3.2 Women and Early Modem Alchemy

Neglectedfor so many decades,research into the history of women in scienceis undoubtedly burgeoning. With numeroushistorians and gendertheorists addressingthe role and significance of womenin the history of science,this broad field is perceivedincreasingly as distinctly independent.The study of women and the female in the history of chemistry, however,is more problematic. While interest in this area is certainly growing, new publications usually go no further than reorganizingthe findings of much earlier research. Womenin Chemistry. Their Changing Rolesfrom Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century, for example,is an invaluable fully-referencedpublication which offers an expansive, but concisesummary of previous studies.49 Focused,analytical researchin this area is, however, scarce. Enquiries into the female scientistsof the early modem period are usually biography-based,expounding the principal female figures of the time.50 Little has been written on the lives and work practicesof everydayfemale chymists. JayneArchers doctoral thesis, WomenAnd Alchemy In Early Modem England, is one of few academicefforts to addressproperly the historical inherencyof women to the developmentof chemistry.51 This remarkablestudy, which seeksto restorethe commonplacefemale chymist to a scientific context, draws, in part, on The English Housewife In The SeventeenthCentury. 52 Other publications in the area, most notably, 'Managing an Experimental Household:The Deesof Mortlake and the Practice of Natural Philosophy' by Deborah Harkness,examine the role of 53 wives in the lives of specific alchemists. The work of Donald R. Dickson similarly investigatesthe alchemicalrole of Thomas Vaughan's 'Rebecca'.54

Pioneeringresearch into genderand chymical art, M. E. Warlick examinesgenre imagery in terms of traditional alchemical symbolism as well as in terms of female chymistry. Despite the fact that Warlick's contribution to this specializedsubject constitutesjust two short chapters,her work is central to this project. 'Moon Sisters:Women and Alchemical Imagery' addresses images of female chymistry in relation to alchemical philosophy and celebrated 55 fernale alcherniStS. In this study, she discusses briefly chymical genre paintings by David Ryckaert 111. 'The Domestic Alchemist: Women As Housewives In Alchemical Emblems' attends to domestic processes in traditional alchemical iconography; unfortunately, it does not

49Rayner-Canham and Rayner-Canham,2001. 50These biography-basedtexts include Nummedal, 2001: 56-68; Ilsley, 1963. 51Archer, 1999. 52Hole, 1953. 53Harkness, 1997: 247-62. 54Dickson, 1998: 34-46; Dickson, 2003: 129-42. 55Warlick, 2002.

17 56 explore genreart in any capacity. Although Warlick's publications in this specific area are embryonic, her work has beenfundamental to the developmentof this thesis.

4 Social Contexts of Art Production

An integral part of this thesis' methodology,the issue of art production in the seventeenth century necessarilyrequires explication. VVWlePart II of this introduction addressesthe issuessurrounding the practice and culture of alchemy in the seventeenthcentury, this section delineatesa social backgroundfor the practice and production of art in the Netherlands. Firstly, it addressesthe divide of the Northern and SouthernNetherlands, explaining the inclusive approachadopted by this thesis. Following this, the production and marketing of genreart in the seventeenth-centuryNetherlands are discussed.

4.1 The Northern and SouthernNetherlands: a Background

Much has beenwritten over the past ten years on the physical and ideological partitioning of the Northern and SouthernNetherlands during the seventeenthcentury. Exploring the differencebetween the two regions, severalweighty tomes chart the dissolution of medieval unity through detaileddocumentation and analysis.57 As this complex history is recorded elsewhere,the following expoundsthe relevanceof geographicaldemarcation to this study and definesfurther its parameters.

It is fair to suggest,as many have, that the Spanishrecapture of Antwerp in 1585 effectively signalledthe definitive division of the Northern and SouthernNetherlands. " The differences betweenthe Dutch Republic and the SouthernNetherlands of the seventeenthcentury have beenwell-documentedL In just the past decade,scores of books and articles have examined every aspectof Dutch society, while numerousothers have explored the societiesand cultures of the SouthernNetherlands. Despite the markeddistinction betweenthe regions, this thesis, in line with current critical trend, is in principle inclusive, exploring the themeof 'chyrnistry' within the genrepaintings of both regions. Although few today would considerthis method contentious,the following sectionexplains further this encompassingapproach.

56Warlick, 1998. 57Most notably, Geyl, 2001; Ptak, 2005; Blok, 1970; Israel, 1998. 58See, for example, Viieghe, 1998a: 1.

18 TraditionaRy, art historians emphasizedthe disparity betweenDutch and Flemish painting, reviewing every differencein a bid to define, and better understand,the intricacies of 'Dutch' 'Flemish' 59 However, in have debated "Dutchness and art . recent years academics the of Dutch 60 "Flemish doesit * 61 In Pelican art", posing the question, art, reafly existT . s newest survey of Flemish art, Hans Vlieghe underlinedthe continuities of Netherlandishart. Throughout the book, he suggeststhat the cohesionof thesetwo countriesessentiaRy outweighedthe regional differentiation which occurred,after an, acrossall provincesand cities. Vlieghe observesthat:

[ ] in the Southern Netherlands between 1585 1700 ... artists who were active and must have felt that only to a limited extent did they belong to an artistic tradition that was any different from that in the Northern Netherlands. This is most clearly shown by the fact that both branches of the history of art of the Low Countries are regarded as a single entity by seventeenth-century art-historiography. Certainly the art of the North and South had much in common: its bourgeois character; the iconography and both in typology which were rooted the same - mainly Antwerp - sixteenth-century tradition; and the mobility of a number of important artists, such as Brouwer, De Heem and Quellinus, who worked in both parts of the Netherlands, and were therefore able to put their stamp on artistic development both in the North and the South. 62

Currently, Vlieghe's theory of a "common culture!' has many important advocates,with numeroushigh-profile studies,exhibitions and conferencesfusing the two previously separate 63 fields. Concurring with the current theorization, this thesis also possessesa thematic basis for its synthesisof Southernand Northern arts; genrepaintings of the chymical workshop emergedduring the seventeenthcentury almost exclusively in the Northern and Southern " Netherlands. While numerouscritics have explored the free "artistic collaboration and market exchange' betweenthe Catholic South and ProtestantNorth, nowhereis this more apparentthan in the highly referential field of alchemicalgenre painting. 65 By the seventeenthcentury this theme,which appearsto have beenequally popular in both

59See, for example, Gerson and ter Kuile, 1960. 60Stephanie S. Dickey, 'Antwerp and Amsterdam: Artistic Exchange c. 1580-1675' Workshop, Historians of Netherlandish Art Conference,Antwerp, 2002. See http: //www. hnanews.org/2005/workshopstdickey. htm (accessed10 November 2005). 61Vlieghe, 1998b: 187-200. 62Vlieghe, 1998a: 1. 63Ilese include the exhibition 'Sinners and saints, darknessand light: Caravaggio and his Dutch and Flemish followers', 1999; the conference 'Dutch artists in Britain, 1550-1750', 25-27 January 2001, Leiden Institute for Early Modem Studies; Manuth and RUger,2004; Baarsenet al., 200 1. 64A specific type of chymical genre painting emergedin Italy at the sametime; the differencesbetween the Netherlandish and Italian paintings are significant and are discussedfurther in Chapter H: 78. 65 StephanieS. Dickey, 'Antwerp and Amsterdam: Artistic Exchange c. 1580-1675' Workshop, Historians of Netherlandish Art Conference,Antwerp, 2002. See http: //www. hnanews.org/2005/workshops/dickey. htm (accessed10 November 2005).

19 Netherlands,was dominatedby two Southernfigures: David Teniers the Younger and, by legacy, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. With strong ties to Antwerp, thesedisparate figures essentiallyshaped the characterof Netherlandishalchemical art for centuries. ChapterI describesthe remarkableinfluence of Bruegel's prints and Teniers' paintingsin the formation of a new genre. Nearly all the Southernpainters featured in this project settledin Antwerp and it is clear from the biographiesincluded that cross-fertilizationbetween all Netherlandish painterswas rife. 66 In addition, both the Northern and SouthernNetherlands drew from a sharedheritage of emblembooks and proverb prints. Most importantly for this thesis,the two regionswere also submergedin a sharedalchemical culture and exposedequally to its associativephilosophy and iconography. Thus, while this thesisrecognizes some regional variation in the paintingsit examines,it would be both contrived and erroneousto deny the homogeneousnature of Netherlandishalchemical genre painting. For this thesis,then, geographicaldemarcation is informative, but not definitive.

4.2 Art Productionand its Markets

[ I Dutch fundamentally, ... what really changedour view of painting most so that no survey, be it a book or a lecture course,can ever be the sameas, say ten yearsago, are the studiesabout the art market, about the relationsbetween producing, selling and buying of paintings,about the socio-economiccircumstances under which art was made,sold and usedLIn contrast with the rather crudeMarxist approachfrom the sixties and seventies,the more recentachievements in this field went hand in hand with a host of new archival research,which, sincethe generationof Bredius,had long beenneglected. 67

Speakingin 2002, Eric Jan Sluijter paid testamentto the recentand revolutionaryadvances in the excavationof the seventeenth-centuryart market. In the threeyears since, this body of literature has grown further still, with publicationsexploring the productionand trading of painting, most often through data-based,socio-economic studies. 68 This extensiveand often meticulousresearch demands special review and cannotbe condensedto a few brief paragraphs. However,in order that the contentof this thesismay be properly contextualized, the following sectionoffers a brief outline of painting productionand the art marketsof the seventeenth-centuryNetherlands.

66For example,the alchemical genre painters Jan Steen,Cornelis Bega, Richard Brakenburghand lbomas Wijck all seemto have trained under Adriaen van Ostade,whose work featuresin Chapter 1. 67Plenary addressentitled 'State of the Art in Scventeenth-CenturyDutch and Flemish Studies', Eric Jan Slujjter. Historians of NetherlandishArt Conference,Antwwrp, 2002. See http://www. hnancws.org/2005/sluijter2. htm (accessed10 November2005). 68Recent publications include van der Veen, 2000: 137-71; North, 1997;Montias, 1996:67-88; van der Woude, 1991: 285-329; Biesboer,2002.

20 Traditionally, studiesof the commercialprocesses of art production in the seventeenth century focus on the Northern Netherlands. However, in more recentyears, projects centring on commercehave increasinglyencompassed the art and artists of the South. This new habit of inclusion transpires,it seems,not from an acknowledgementof universality, but rather from a recognition of difference. More than ever, the subtlety of regional variation is being examinedby economicand sociological historians. As such, studiestoday often centreon specific cities, rather than on countiesor wider regions.69 Focusing on the specificity of demography,legislation and working practices,these surveys examine the detailedtextures of highly localized markets. Ironically, this fresh nuancedapproach has led to a recognition of the broad commonalitiesof the Northern and Southernmarkets. The long-recognized variations of the Southernmarkets are now more often understoodin ternis of inevitable, but not necessarilydivisive, regional differentiation. As such, current macro-historicalsurveys of Netherlandishart frequently incorporatediscussion of both the North and the South.

The structuresof art production and art markets,then, were broadly the samefor both the Northern SouthernNetherlands 70 The based and . manufactureof paintings was upon a strict guild structure.71 The Guilds of St. Luke, evident in both Netherlands,governed painters through fairly uniform legislature. Guild rules were strict and often personallyintrusive, dictating the lives of both the painters and their families. In order to join the profession,an aspiring painter was obliged to servea four to six year apprenticeshipwith a 'master' of the guild. This extensivetraining was expensive,with rates increasingaccording to the calibre and popularity of the master. Apprenticed at the age of ten or twelve, a boy would executea wide range of choresin his master's studio. In addition to menial service,pupils would be tutored in art, initially through the copying of drawings and prints, eventually graduatingto painting live models. In the later stagesof their tuition, traineeswere commonly allowed to work directly on the master's canvas. The more proficient the student,the greatertheir participation in the production of the master's painting. After about six years, a student would usually apply for guild membershipby submitting their own 'masterpiece'for consideration. If the standardwas consideredhigh enough,the artist's namewas recordedin the guild's register. Once registered,the artist could legitimately produce,sign and sell his own paintings and, as an enrolled master,assume apprentices.

69 These include Biesboer, 2002; Montias, 2003; Montias, 1996: 67-88; van der Veen, 2000: 137-71. 70 For a detailed analysis of the Northern and Southern art markets seede Marchi and Miegroet, 1994: 451-64. 71 For more on the guild structure seePtak, 2003: 236-51.

21 In an effort to reflect the economicreality of the industry, historians in recentyears have referred not to the 'art market', but to the 'art markets' of the seventeenthcentury. The energizedeconomy of the GoldenAge and shifts in political and religious powers had a remarkableeffect on the forces and structuresof the art markets. As the patronageof the church evaporated,the art market opened,giving way to increaseddemand, increased production and a diversification of retailing possibility. It is estimatedthat 70,000 paintings were producedin the Netherlandsevery year for the duration of the seventeenthcenturyýý While it is now generally agreedthat contemporarycommentators overstated the accessibility of the Dutch art market, it is fair to suggestthat the industry cateredto "various interestsand levels of income and social statuS99.73An important componentof this industry, genre painting was producedin a variety of sizes,styles, qualities, prices, placesand for an equally diverse consumer. The best genreartists, like Gerrit Dou, JohannesVermeer and Frans van Mieris, often worked exclusively for a single client over a long period of time. Painterssuch as thesecould commandsubstantial sums for a single work of art and rarely offered direct replications of their paintings. At the other end of the scale, less popular painters generated vast quantities of cheap,similarly thernedpaintings. Sometimesthese paintings were copies of the studio's most successfulworks, with little or no variation, completedby an array of studio hands. Studios, of all standards,frequently specializedin a few highly specific themes, such as ker7nissen[carnivals] or boordeelkens[brothel scenes]. As this thesis shows, numerousartists specializedin the themeof 'the alchernist'.74 It has beenestimated, for example,that "betweenthree hundredand fifty and four hundredextant examplesof Alchemists" feature in the oeuvreof David Teniers the Younger alone.75 Despite this vast number, the alchemistwas not Teniers' sole specialization. Like most artists, Teniers had severalspecialities, including witchcraft and devilry, merry-makingpeasants, the Temptation of St. Anthony and the village barber-surgeon.

For the most part, art was sold to an anonymousmarket, either directly through the studio or through an art dealer. Paintings, however, were also available from a variety of other local sources. Prints and paintings were sold in bookshops,inns, at stalls at kertnissen,in addition to Guild-organizedexhibitions. Subject to strict conditions, artists could also submit their work to auctions or lotteries.76 Like many successfulpainters, Teniers cultivated strong ties with local art dealers,who promotedhis work to a wide market. Instrumentalin the success

72North, 1997: 1. 73Westermann, 2004: 33. 74 The subjectof alchemical genre painting and the work of David Teniers the Younger is introduced at Ereaterlength in Introduction Part H: 40-41. Davidson, 1987: 62. 76For more on auctions seeMontias, 2003.

22 of a painter, art dealersfrequently commissionedexpensive work on behalf of wealthy corporate or private clients.77 Conversely,many artists including Vem-ieerand David Teniers the Elder were successfulart dealersin their own right. This newly democratizedmarket revolutionizedthe production of art, engenderinga modem and self-sustainingcycle of supply and demand. As products of this energizedindustry, the paintings discussedby this thesis reflect the developingcommercial-consciousness of artists. An appreciationof lucrative themesand formulas, in addition to the direct replication of profitable scenes,an signify the urgency of unprecedentedcompetition.

5 Technical Issues

5.1 QuantitativeScope

In introducing this study, someobservations must be presented. At the outset, it is important to note that women are anomalousin seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genre painting. As this study concernsitself exclusively with paintings that feature focal females, the readerwill not necessarilygauge the marginality of theseworks. The vast majority of seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genre paintings depict women only as anonymous,background characters, if indeedthey are included at all. While estimatesare difficult, it is a reasonableassertion that focal femalesoccur in less than five per cent of all 78 known alchemicalgenre paintings. The scopeof this thesishas beencomprehensive, investigating every known alchemicalgenre painting which includesa female figure. Again, while approximationsare problematic, the examplesencompassed by this dissertation probably representtwo-thirds of all known female-focalNetherlandish alchemical genre paintings. Those works not referencedhere are excludedeither becauseof their condition, their similarity to anotherpainting of higher quality or becausethey add little to the argumentsof this thesis. None, of course,has beenrejected because it fails to conform to the theoriescontained herein. The only painting of special significanceto be excludedfrom this inquiry is The Explosion in the Alchemist's Laboratory by JustusGustav van Benturn (Fig. 2).79 This, along with a small number of other works, was disqualified due to its ambiguous date. It is unknown whether this remarkablepainting belongsto the seventeenthor eighteenth

77For more on the role of art dealers in the Netherlands seeMontias, 1988: 244-56. 78This figure reflects the data gathered during the course of this research. It has been provided as a fU ideline; the actual percentagemay be less. 9 JustusGustav van Bentum, The Explosion in the Alchemist's Laboratory, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.285. Oil on canvas,46" x 37". Provenance:Fisher Collection.

23 century, but on assessment, this thesis considers it more characteristic of later genre art. It is therefore incorporated into the conclusion to describe the course of alchemical genre painting through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

5.2 Problemsof Authorship and Date

The cataloguingof paintings included in this thesis is occasionallyimperfect. The accurate attribution of a collection is often a time-consumingand expensiveenterprise. Consequently, many holding institutions tolerate inaccuraciesand gaps in their catalogues. In some instances,therefore, the artist, date and provenanceof paintings referencedby this thesis remain unknown. The point at which theseworks acquiredtheir presenttitles is also unknown. Within the time constraintsof its research,this thesis has endeavouredto restore accurateprofiles to many of thesepaintings. As a result, many holding institutions have altered their attributions in line with its findings. However, the scopeof this thesis could not encompasssystematic research to investigateaccurately eachpainting, and thereforesome gaps inevitably remain.

5.3 IconographicalSources

The alchemicalgenre paintings examinedby this thesis are derived predominantlyfrom the collections of the Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia and the Wellcome Library, London.

Containing over ninety paintings and two hundredworks on paper, the Eddlemanand Fisher Collections of the Chemical Heritage Foundationoriginate from two separatecorporate sources. Founder of Fisher Scientific, ChesterGarfield Fisher beganacquiring alchemical paintings in the 1920s. Amassing a remarkablebody of alchemicalart, Fisher Scientific International Inc. donatedits collection to the Chemical Heritage Foundationin March 2000. Inspired by Fisher's passionfor painting, Roy Eddleman,CEO and founder of Spectrum Laboratories, beganaccruing his own collection in the 1960s. Having cultivated a similarly impressivefund of alchemicalartworks, Eddlemandonated his paintings and drawings to the Chemical Heritage Foundationin November2002. Ranging from the seventeenthto the nineteenthcentury, the majority of theseworks explore the various roles of the alchemistand chemist. With an exceptionalcorpus of seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish genre paintings, the ChernicalHeritage Foundationhas provided many of the paintings examinedby this thesis.

24 In London, the Wellcome Library Iconographic Collections representan equally valuable sourceof alchemicalimagery. Containing over 100,000prints, drawings, paintings and photographs,the IconographicCollections centre on the history and evolution of medicine. The majority of the works in the Iconographic Collections were acquiredby Henry Wellcome and his staff between1890 and 1936, in an effort to createa 'Museum of Man'. New accessionsare receivedby the Wellcome Trust eachyear and consequentlythe collection continuesto grow. Possessinga globally significant body of seventeenth-century Netherlandishchymical genrepaintings, this collection has proved fundamentalto this thesis.

The remaining alchemicalpaintings utilized by this project originate from severalsources, including the National Gallery, London and the Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam. Unsurprisingly, the Rijksbureau.voor KunsthistorischeDocumentatie has beeninstrumental in identifying paintings with alchemicalsubjects. Additionally, this thesis has madeabundant use of museumcatalogues and archives,as well as private collections.

? tNJVERSJ PART 11

alchemy ('wlkInil) 1. The chemistry of the Middle Ages and 16th c.; now applied distinctively to the pursuit of the transmutationof baser metalsinto gold, which (with the searchfor the alkahestor universal solvent, and the panaceaor universal remedy) constitutedthe chief practical object of early chemistry.80

In its compulsionto compartmentalizea mutable universe,the modem era has successfully reducedan unfathomableart and scienceto a palatable, single-dimensionalconcept. While the simplicity of presentdefinitions is undoubtedlymisleading, the emphasison transmutationsand elixirs has legitimate historical roots. Since the Middle Ages, European alchemistssought the transmutationof basemetals through the procurementof the elusive 'Stone'. Similarly, the quest for the curative and immortalizing elixir representeda principal objective for the adepts of ancient China, as wen as those of early modem Europe. Yet, despitethe historical veracity of thesetwin ambitions, alchemy is nonethelessan extraordinarily challengingphenomenon, traversing countlessdisciplines and transcending definition. In acadeiniccircles, at least, it is widely acknowledgedthat the field evennow 82 lacks any kind of "comprehensiveexplanation"81 or "totalising theory".

In light of this ambiguity, the following introduction expoundsthe key alchemicalconcepts 83 and histories most relevant to this project. The first sectionaddresses the problems of vocabulary inherentto any discussionof alchemy. Crucially, it establishesthe functional lexis for this specific project and, furthermore, offers explicit definition of the 'alcheinies' discussedin the ensuingchapters. The subsequentsegment offers a historical context for the thesis' analysis of seventeenth-centurygenre painting, delineatingthe range of practitioners in early modem society and exploring their varying status. The next part exploresthe diverse manifestationof alchemicalartistic culture in the seventeenthcentury. Here, the breadthand significanceof alchemicalart is reviewed,with specific attention paid to the emergenceof the themewithin genrepainting. The final paragraphsintroduce the genderedlanguage and symbolism of alchemyand, in particular, examinethe femaleprinciple and its meaningwithin the theoreticalbinaristic: relationship of the 'chymical marriage'.

80Simpson ed., 1989,1: 300. 81Hopkins, 1934: 3. 82Linden, 2003:3. 83 Full explications of alchemical conceptsmarginal to the discussionsof this thesis can be found in Abraham, 2001; Holmyard, 1957; Eliade, 1979.

26 Definitions and Terminology

By the time of Zosimos of Panopolis(c. 300 AD), alchemical literature containeda "bewildering confusion of Egyptian magic, Greek philosophy, Gnosticism,Neo-platonism, Babylonian astrology, Christian theology, and paganmythology". 84 Characterizedby complex allegory and obscuresymbology, Zosimos' mystifying tracts embodythe cryptic tone intrinsic to all subsequentalchemical cultural products.85 Drawing upon a multitude of ancient and modem traditions, this "confusion" intensified as alchemyemerged in nxxbeval Europe via the Islamic texts of Arabia. As 7he Mirror ofAlchimy attests,there was little consensusconcerning terminology amongWestern theoreticians,each of whom professed their own interpretation of the "Art" or "Science':

In many ancientBookes there are found many definitions of this Art, the intentions whereof we must considerin this Chapter. For Hermes saith of this Science:Alchimy is a Corporal Sciencesimply composedof one and by one, naturally conjoyning things more precious,by knowledgeand effect, and converting them by a naturall conunixtion into a better kind. A certain other saith: Alchimy is a Science,teaching how to transforme any kind of metall into another:and that by a proper medicine,as it appearethby many PhilosophersBookes. Alchimy thereforeis a scienceteaching how to make and compounda certain medicine,which is called ElLxir, the which when it is cast upon mettals or imperfect bodies, doth fully perfect them in the verie projection.86

Inevitably, by the seventeenthcentury the central issue of definition was still unresolved; 'alchemy' remaineda conceptwithout strict boundary or fixed interpretation. Consequently, as StantonJ. Linden writes, "current scholarly concernis much more with the variety and diversity of conceptionsof alchemy,the multiplicity of its definitions, the theoretical and practical malleability that makesalchemy useful and attractive to a broad interdisciplinary audience,and its origins in severalancient cultures".87 He adds, "it is much more commonto seealchemy as pluralistic rather than singular, as 'alchemies' rather than 'alchemy"'. 88 Given the wide-rangingnature of the field, this thesis exploresonly selectedfacets of what might be termed 'alchemy'.

In order to anchor its discussionof alchemicalpainting, this thesis must first identify and properly define thoseconcepts most relevant to this project. In the past decade,several

84Holmyard, 1957: 25-26. 85For more detail seeRead, 1936: 40. 86Linden ed., 1992. 87Linden, 2003: 4. 88Linden, 2003: 4.

27 important texts have explicatedcarefully the semanticdifficulties inherentto the subject.89 Specifically, establisheddefinitions of alchemy and its derivative forms continue to elude contemporaryscholarship and terminology remainshighly contentious. As neither issuehas beenresolved satisfactorily, the following sectionsarticulate the operationalvocabulary for this thesis.90

According to Lawrence Principe "the words alchemy and chemistry (in all their orthographic and grammatical variants) are usedinterchangeably in almost all seventeenthcentury contexts".91 While this statementhas attractedsome censure, it attests,at least, to the deeply 92 intimate relationship betweenthe two terms. To describethe generic nature of alchemy/chemistryin the early modem period, this thesis turns again to Principe. Recently, the chemical historian has advocatedthe use of the obsoleteterm 'chymistry', to indicate the 93 66sumtotal of alchemical/chemicaltopics as understoodin the seventeenthcentury". nIiS useful archaism helpfully avoids the connotations "implicit in the use of either chemistry or 94 alchemy'. In addition, then, to signifying the quest for the Philosophers' Stone, it also encompasses metallurgy, crystallization, glassmaking and all other chemical- and mineral- based activities of the seventeenth-century workshop.

As a blanket term, however, 'chymistry' doesnot accommodatethe nuancesof specialized alchemicalpractices and theories. Generally, the argumentsof this thesis are not concerned with generic 'chyrnistry, but with 'exoteric alchemy' and 'esoteric alchemy'. Although these two alcherniesare evokedin the maJorityof present-daytexts, they are nonethelessinexact, umbrella terms, which have developedin responseto a deficient vocabulary. Acknowledging that both expressionsencompass a vast and intersectingrange of ill-defined and subsidiary 'alchemies', this terminology neverthelesshas particular convenienceand appropriatenessto this project. When this thesis, then, refers to 'alchemy', it refers not to genericchymistry, but to an exoteric and esotericfusion.

89Principe and Newman, 2001: 385-431; Newman and Principe, 1998: 3: 32-65; Principe, 1998: 8-10; Linden, 2003. 90So as not to complicate a sufficiently confusing subject further, the following discussion is restricted to the Western alchemies of the seventeenthcentury. 91Principe, 1998: 8. Seealso Newman and Principe, 1998: 3: 32-65. 92Many alchemy historians have expressedconcerns about Principe and Newman's 'Alchemy vs. Chemistry: The Etymological Origin of a Historiographic Mistake' through the 'The Alchemy Website'. Ilese detractors include some of the leading figures in the field. For more detail see http: //www. levity. conValchemy/a-archivp-apr05.html (accessed10 November 2005). This thesis uses the word 'chemistry' only in its present day sense. 93Principe, 1998: 9. 94Principe, 1998: 9.

28 Exoteric alchemy,then, is concernedexclusively with practical alchemy:the physical operationsof the laboratory. For this thesis,exoteric alchemy incorporates,among other things, the physical processesof metallic transmutationor chrysopoeia. 'Chrysopoeia' specifically describesthe gold-makingambition of alchemy and is applied frequently throughout this project. Alchemists of the early modem period believedthat all metals aspiredto perfection, that is, gold. By manipulating the balanceof the mythological properties 'mercury' and 'sulphur', alchemistsbelieved they could generate'perfect' or pure gold from any metal.95 Alchemical theory maintainedthat this correction could be achieved through the Philosophers'Stone which could transmuteor 'perfect' a molten basemetal upon contact. This miraculous Stone,most often describedas a powder or tincture, was generated 96 through the reconciliation of oppositesin the opus alchymicum. For this thesis, 'exoteric alchemy' also includesthe physical quest for the elixir vitae or Elixir of Iffe, which was 97 believedto cure all known diseaseand to prolong human life, possibly indefinitely. rhe nomenclatureregarding the completealchemical process also requires someclarification. Historians of alchemy,as well as the alchemiststhemselves, have often referred to the entire processas 'the Great Work', or magnum opus. Similarly, it is often just called the Art, the Work or the opus. While theseterms are fairly distinct in etymology, this thesis, in line with presentday criticism, employsthem interchangeably.

For the majority of alchemical studies, 'esoteric alchemy' is a far more elusive concept, indivisible, in many ways, from the exoteric processesof the opus. A myriad of abstract ideas and beliefs, esotericalchemy is a highly inclusive term which alludesto the spiritual, metaphysicaland philosophical aspectsof the opus. The countlesstheoretical components representedby esotericism,include the Christian, Greek mythological and sexual allegories inherentto alchemical languagesand operations;the colour and astrological sequencesat the heart of the transmutationprocess; notions of the microcosmand macrocosm;the hierarchy of the sevenmetals; numerology;Paracelsian metaphysical theory; and the interdependencyof the Aristotelian elementalprinciples with the four Galenic humours and the four seasons. While a full explication of esotericalchemy cannot be containedwithin an introduction of this

95'Mercury' and 'sulphur' were mythical substancesunrelated to modern interpretations of the words. A third substance,'salt' was added by Paracelsusin the sixteenth century. Tria prima is discussed further in Chapter IH, 110-11. Ile mercury-sulphur theory is discussedfurther at a later point in this introduction, 42-43. 96This term describesthe distillation and conversion processesthrough which the 'fifth element' was produced. For more on this concept seeAbraham, 2001: 137. 7 71bishealing agent is commonly interpreted as the liquid state of the Philosophers' Stone, although like all alchemical concepts,it defies categorical definition. SeeAbraham, 2001: 165-66,215; Eliade, 1979: 111-36,160-75.

29 kind, there are somekey points worth emphasizing.98 First, is the importanceof prima materia.99 Prima materia is the 'first matter' from which all things were createdand that could, upon alchemicalintervention, be restored. For the attainnient of 'perfection', a substancemust be first brought back to its original, or prime, state. This phaseof the opus is ordinarily called nigredo, or the black stage;the matter is 'dead' and awaits 'resurrection'.100 A secondkey conceptpertains to the importanceof balance. Powerfully manifest in alchemicalculture, this themeincorporates physical, spiritual, elemental,hunioural, sexual, cosmologicaland astrological systemsof balance. By manipulating the equilibrium of these systems,alchemists by their 'art' could redressor perfect 'nature. This themeis explored further in a later discussionof alchemy's central iconographicalconcept, the Red King and White Queen. A third underlying theory relatesto the alchemicalquest for perfection. Ultimately, the early modem alchemistwas concernedonly with the goal of perfection: 101 perfection of metal, perfection of the corporal body and perfection of the spirit. This ideology was inextricably bound to the status of the initiated alchemist,or adept, as God's chosenservant. Esoteric alchemy,for this thesis, also refers to the transmutationof the alchemist from humble man to enlightenedand sanctified philosopher. This internal transformation again occupiesa highly ambiguousposition within alchemicalphilosophy; the conversionis at oncepotentially both physical and spiritual, literal and metaphorical. Additionally, esotericismpertains to the acquisition of knowledgethrough book-leaming and writing. Importantly for this study, 'esoteric alchemy' also includesthe impenetrablesecret languagesof alchemy. From the earliest alchemicalwritings, the secretsof the Great Work were encryptedthrough a mutable, metaphoricallanguage, which, from the Middle Ages, was pictorial as well as literary. This peculiar symbology,discussed later, incorporatesimages of Hermaphrodites,coffins, red lions, greenlions, encircledserpents, black toads, phoenixes, peacocktails and pelicans, amongcountless other emblems. This visual imagery, which is most abundantin medievaland early modem Western treatisesand manuscripts,occupies an important role in this research.

Other potentially unfamiliar expressionsin this thesis include iatrochemistry. VVhileChapter HI explains the word more fully, iatrochemistry alludes simply to medical alchemy. While the meaningof most other alchemicalterms is indicated through context, most can be fully understoodwith referenceto A Dictionary ofAlchemical Imagery by Lyndy Abrahamý02or

98The composition of esoteric alchemy is so profound and encompassingthat it cannot be presented accurately here even in summary. For concise summation of esoteric alchemy seeLinden, 1996: 7-26. 99See Abraham, 2001: 153-56. 100See Eliade, 1979: 153-62. 101 For more on the alchemical quest for perfection see Newman, 2004: 11-33. 102Abraham, 2001.

30 Mark Haeffher's The Dictionary ofAtchemy. 103In order to maintain precision, this project, whereverpossible, utilizes an unambiguousalchemical lexicon.

1.1 Terminology of Cultural Products

Unsurprisingly, the fundamentalissue of terminology also affects studiesof alchemy's visual and literary cultures. Evoked frequently throughout this project, the terms 'alchemical literature' and 'alchemical genrepainting' presentparticular obstaclesdue to their misleading semanticsimilarity. As such, the following offers explication for theseterms within the context of this thesis.

This work applies the terms 'alchemical literature' and 'alchernical genrepainting' only within strictly definedparameters. 'Alchemical literature', therefore,refers to the literary texts producedby, and for, alchemists. It is an inclusive term which may, for example,refer to the literatures of both ancientBabylonia and twentieth-centuryEurope. Even within the early modem period, the contentof such literature was markedly varied, encompassing practical chymical instruction as well.as obscureesoteric discourse. Printed manuals,esoteric manuscriptsand tracts describingalchemical processes, histories or philosophies,may all, therefore,be classedas 'alchemical literature'. Crucial.ly, however,the term 'alchemical literature' within this project doesnot extendto texts which simply contain alchemical subjectsor themes;within this framework, therefore,Ben Jonson'sAlchemist and John Donne's 'Love's Alchemy' do not constitute 'alchemical literature'. By contrast 'alchemical genrepainting', or alternatively 'chyrnical genrepainting', is a highly specific term, with very different connotations. Discussedfurther in later paragraphsý'alchemical genrepainting' refers exclusively to genrepaintings which depict the chymist or chymical workshop. Unlike other alchemicalart forms, thesepaintings, which may be sympatheticto, or satirical of, alchemy,do not necessarilyoperate in accordancewith traditional alchemicalphilosophies or artistic conventions. Instead,these works are generallyentertainment pieces, executed by ordinary painters and directed towards a lay market. 'Alchemical genrepainting', then, does not refer to paintings of non-chymicalsubjects, which may contain latent alchemicalthemes or subtexts.

It is important to note, however,that somesemantic problems regardingthis diverse collection of paintings remain. In generalizeddiscussions of the chymical themeit is often impossibleto articulate succinctly the nuancesinherent to eachdepiction of chymical activity.

103Haeffner, 2004.

31 The term 'alchemical genrepainting', for example,draws limited distinction betweenimages of the scholar in his study and those of the laboratory-basedchymist. However, while the basic terminology of this thesis doesnot accommodatethese important distinctions, the diversity of alchemicalenterprise is of primary considerationto this project. As such, the subtle nuancesof the chyrnistry depictedwithin thesescenes will be fully explored throughout the courseof this study.

2 Alchenkal Practice in the Seventeenth-Century Netherlands

While flourishing in the Middle Ages, alchemyreached its zenith in Europe during the seventeenthcentury. The invention of the printing press had an unusually delayedeffect in 104 this specific field, impacting alchemyonly in the last quarter of the sixteenthcentury. Once underway, however, the publication rate of alchemicaltreatises in Northern Europe was phenomenal,peaking in around 1680 and plummeting after the turn of the century. From careful data-basedstudies it is clear that severalthousand alchemical treatises were published 105 in Europe over the courseof the century. All key esoteric,exoteric and biography-based texts from Arabia, Ancient Greeceand Europe were available in print, with many including 106 excellentreproductions of fine copperplateengravings. Although most appearedin Latin 107 upon publication, thesebooks were often translatedinto the major Europeanlanguages. Publishing many of these,the Netherlandsalso producedand attractedthe foremost alchemicalfigures of the early modem period, including Paracelsus,Cornelius Drebbel, Jean Baptista van Helmont, John Dee, Cornelius Agrippa and Michael Maier.

Although attitudes varied accordingto geographicalspecificity and date, chrysopoeia.was generallytolerated during the early modem period, although practice was often subject to

104This delayedreaction may have been related to an initial reluctance to disseminatewithout restriction the previously closed 'secrets' of alchemical knowledge. 105See Doberer, 1948; Ploss et al., 1970: 72. Seealso Waley Singer, 1928-31; Wilson, 1939: 1-836 and the statistical information offered by http: //www. levity. com/alchemy/statists.html (accessed10 November 2005). 106For more on the engravings of seventeenth-centuryalchemical treatises seeYdossowski de Rola, 1997. 107Indeed, the Netherlands was possibly the first country to adopt the vernacular in its alchemical allegorizations. A Middle Dutch poem written by "Gratheus filius philosophui", from the secondhalf of the fourteenth century, rejects Latin in favour of Dutch, "for the benefit of all those Ladies and Gentlemen who do not understandLatin". SeeBirkhan, 1990: 163; Pereira, 1999: 347-48.

32 strict licence.108 The papal decreeof 1317 against alchemy,De Crimine Falsi Titulus VI. I Joannis XXII, was applied only rarely, and then usually in casesof fraud. This lenience towards the practice of alchemyoffers significant obstaclesto scholarskeen to understandthe intricacies of alchemicalenterprise in the seventeenthcentury. Had alchemybeen illegal, or had prohibiting legislation been strictly enforced,researchers would undoubtedlybenefit from a wealth of judicial documentation. As it is, records are slight in many areas. Historical researchis hamperedfurther by the variability of alchemy and the correspondinglydiverse characterof its practitioners. Alchemists rangedfrom intellectual championssuch as Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle to ignorant 'puffers', desperatelycaptivated by the illusion of the Philosophers' Stone.109 Moreover, numerous'alchemists', including a few celebratedfigures, were straightforward fraudsters.

Despite thesecomplications, it is possibleto reconstructa generalpicture of alchemical practice in the seventeenthcentury. By the beginning of the sixteenthcentury, alchemy"was ' 10 an entrenchedinterest within court circles". Monarchs and membersof the aristocracy entertainedall mannerof alchemists,keen to peddlestories of magical transmutations. Elizabeth of England, Christina of Sweden,Rudolf H of Austria, amongnumerous other Europeanrulers, all funded an array of often nomadic chrysopoeiansand natural philosophers. Like all important houses,royal courts would keep sizeablechymical laboratoriesfor the production of householdsupplies and luxuries. While accommodatingexperimentation into natural philosophy and newer sciences,these laboratories would also often manufacture chemical-, mineral- and herbal-basedmedicines. Maintaining extensivedomestic workshops, sovereignsinterested in chrysopoeiawould also often sponsoralchemists working within their own homes."' Instrumental in the political evolution of the Netherlands,Philip II of Spain was a fervent advocateof alchemy.112 Throughout his reign Philip cultivated relationships with chymists of severalnationalities, including Flemish, German,Italian and English. Supervisedby senior officials in both the Netherlandsand Spain, theseworkers were specializediatrochernists and chrysopoeians,eager to fill the ever-depletedHapsburg coffers. During the latter half of the sixteenthcentury at least, the SouthernNetherlands supported a

108In England, for example, the Act against Multipliers enactedunder Henry IV in 1404, was essentially governed by licence. Guarding against unregulated transmutation it stated,"that none from thenceforth should use to multiply gold or silver, or use the graft of multiplication; and if any do, they incur the pain of felony". The act was repealedin 1689, apparently upon the instigation of Robert Boyle. SeePrincipe, 1998: 1,105. 109Referring to the overuseof bellows, the term 'puffer' describesan unsuccessfuland under-educated would-be alchemist. 110Webster, 1979: 307. 111 See,for example, a description of Elizabeth's erratic sponsorshipof John Dee in Woolley, 200 1: 115-29,195. 112See Puerto Sarmiento, 1997: 17,107-40; Puerto Sarmiento, 1999: 42946.

33 strong tradition of highly sIdUedchyrnists. Exploiting this, Philip appointeda body of Flemish distillers to work towards the preparation of pharmaceuticalsand perfumesfor the royal household. A corps of significant merit, this Netherlandishexpertise operated within the royal stillrooms of Madrid, Aranjuez and the Escorial.

After Philip's deathin 1598, the situation for alchemistsin the Spanish-Hapsburgemploy altered, probably in responseto the disapprovingattitude of the Church and the repressionof the Holy Office. 113However, while court-sponsoredchrysopoeia may have wanedin Spain, alchemy nonethelessretained cachet in Netherlandishhigh society well into the seventeenth century. Emphasizingthe significanceof alchemyto Netherlandishnobility, JonathanI. Israel, in his history of the Dutch Republic, writes:

The passion for alchemy which transcended faiths and political barriers infusing the souls of many prominent personalities in seventeenth-century Europe - not least Leopold Wilhelm, governor-general of the Spanish Netherlands in the years 1647-56, who turned Brussels for a time into a noted centre of alchemistic endeavour - was a central element in the religious and scientific outlook of the Boreelists and their allies. 114

Preservedamongst the upper classes,interest in alchemy cementedseveral eminent political 115 and religious relationships. At the sametime, lower-level domesticalchemy seemsto have flourished, as the number of alchemicaltreatises published in the Netherlandsincreased ' 16 throughout the seventeenthcentury. The occurrenceof alchemicaltexts in post-mortem inventoriesof burgher's estatesgives further indication that the Dutch and Flemish were keen consumersof such literature, confirming also that alchemymay have servedas a pastimefor more privileged individuals.' 17

It is, however, at the lowest end of the social scalethat the practice of alchemy,and specifically chrysopoeia,is least documented.During the Middle Ages, alchemical scholarshipwas essentiallyconfined to the monastery,the traditional centrefor the storage and production of knowledge. By the beginning of the seventeenthcentury, however,the

113However, the Austrian Hapsburg interest in alchemy continued throughout the seventeenthcentury with both Ferdinand III and Leopold I. SeeWheatcroft, 1997: 193. 114Israel, 1998: 589. 115See Israel, 1998: 589. 116The decline of court alchemy in Spanish-controlled areasis not reflective of Europe in general. 117It is certainly clear from the work of JayneArcher that chymistry was a popular amateur pursuit for English women of the upper classes,many of whom showed special interest in chrysopoeia. Studies also show that male membersof the European nobility were often seriousexperimental hobbyists in the early modern period. Devotion to intellectual pursuits, including chymical experimentation and theorization, undoubtedly servedas an expressionof male accomplishmentand endeavourin select circles. This theme is explored further in Chapter U of this thesis. SeeArcher, 1999: IJ-3. xxv.

34 structuresof alchemicallearning had beentransformed. Increasingly neglectedby the elite echelonsof religious brotherhoods,alchemy was reclaimedby the uninitiated and untrained.' 18 While it is unknown exactly what prompted this shift, the adventof printing and the mounting hostility of the Church towards alchemyunquestionably played a role. In addition, the reluctanceof Netherlandishuniversities to incorporate chrysopoeiaand its associatedphilosophies into its syllabusesostensibly absolved alchemy of any academic exclusivity. Thesefactors, combinedwith the fantastic rumours of miraculous alchemical bounty, inspired the imagination of the commonman. From the imperfect evidenceoffered by genrepainting, contemporaryliterature and studiesof the craft workshop, it is likely that the lower classespractised alchemy within a basic workshop, attachedto, or integratedinto, the home.' 19 This spacewould have rangedfrom a rudimentary kitchen conversionto a purpose-designedand properly equippedworkshop. Chrysopoeianefforts, it is now believed, may have generallyrepresented a small part of a much broader and more profitable chyrnical business. The wide range of servicesand products offered by the village chyrnist to the local community would, in turn, have subsidizedchrysopoeia and other less lucrative enterprises. Like other craft professions,practical alchemyat this level was probably a family affair, involving both wife and children, in addition to outsourcedassistants. 120

Unlike many analogoustrades in the Netherlands,alchemy was not regulatedby a guild system. Instead,it is likely that as a local trade, alchemicalpractice was entirely self- governing. It is also likely that this autonomyreflected the distinctive secrecywhich engulfed all alchemicalactivities. Eager to unravel the secretsof the Great Work, adeptswere careful to preservealchemical advancements even within their own workshops. As a non-guild industry, it remainsunknown how many professional,local-level alchemistsoperated in the Netherlandsduring this time. However, consideringthe disproportionateoccurrence of alchemistsin Netherlandishart and literature and the countries' high production of alchemical treatises,it is possiblethat professionalalchemy was more commonin the Netherlandsthan in other Europeancountries. The popularity of the alchemisttheme in mainstream Netherlandishculture certainly suggeststhat the village chymist was a figure familiar to the generalpublic. For the most part, this thesis dealswith paintings of the local-level alchemist, a characterfar removedfrom the majesty of the royal courts. However, evenwithin this relatively tight categorythere is broad variation of character. The Netherlandishgenre painters of the seventeenthcentury depict dishevelled,poverty-stricken puffers, successful

118See Archer, 1999: 41i; Shapin, 1990; Crisciani, 1995: 149-84; Halleux, 1979. 119See Pereira, 1999: 336-38. 120 This hypothesisis certainly supportedby genre painting and contemporary literature. This craft workshop structure is discussedand referencedat greater length in Chapter IV: 151-52. Seede Vries and van der Woude, 1997; Pott-Buter, 1993: 35-67; Wiesner, 1994; Roper, 1991.

35 chrysopoeianswith bulging purses,contemplative scholars, callous charlatans,educated iatrochernistsand well-heeledhobbyists. Although detail may be wanting, contemporary sourcescollectively attest to the wide range and quality of chymical servicesavailable to Netherlandishsociety. VVWleit would be speculativeto infer historical accuracy from genre paintings, they do appearto confirm both the popularity and variety of chyrnistsduring this period.

3 AlchemicalCulture

Composedin either the first or secondcentury AD, 'Dialogue of Cleopatra and the Philosophers'is one of the earliest known alchemicaltracts and significantly betrays a strong symbolic emphasis.121 Alluding to the distinctive and perplexing symbologywhich would come to dominatealchemical culture into the modem age, this short dialogue evokesimagery of sex, birth, death and resurrection,the foremostthemes of esotericphilosophy. About five hundredyears later, thesethemes are resumedby the most famous and important of all alchemicaldocuments, the tabula smaragdina, or Emerald Tablet. Purportedly authoredby the mythical founder of alchemyHermes Trismegistus, the Emerald Tablet is pre-medieval, with its earliest known incarnation probably occurring in the Kitdb Sirr al-Asrar, an Arabic 122 pseudo-Aristoteliancompendium of around 800 AD. Translated into Latin as Secretum Secretorumby JohannesHispaniensis (c. 1140) and by Philip of Tripoli (c. 1243), the Emerald Tablet becamean intrinsic part of Western alchemicallore. In the late seventeenthcentury, Isaac Newton developedhis own English translation of the short text:

Tis true without lying, certain & most true. That wch is below is like that wch is above & that wch is aboveis like yt wch is below to do ye miracles of one only thing. And as all things have been& arosefrom one by ye mediationof one: so an things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nourse. The father of all perfection in ye whole world is here. Its force or power is entire if it be convertedinto earth. Seperatethou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.

121Anonymous, 'Dialogue of Cleopatra and the Philosophers' (first or secondcentury AD). Reproducedwith notes in Linden, 2003: 44-45. 122Debate engulfs this issue of origin. Others suggestthat an earlier sourceis Kit4b sirr al-halfqa (sometimescalled Kitfib al-71al) which is attributed to Apolonius of Tiana. This was translated into Latin by Hugo de Santalla at the beginning of the twelfth century. For more on this alternative argument seeTravaglia, 2001.

36 It ascendsfrom ye earth to ye heaven& again it desends,to ye earth and receivesye force of things superior & inferior. 123

Conjuring imagesof the Sun and Moon, Heavenand Earth, man and woman, gestationand the four elements,this cryptic and highly metaphoricaltext fundamentallyinformed the characterof medievaland early modem alchemical literature. Expressingkey alchemical ideas,the archetypal enigmaticlanguage of the Emerald Tablet epitomizesWestern alchemical literature of the first millennium AD. Even a cursory reading of thesefew famous lines yields evidenceof fundamentalalchernical concepts: conversion, perfection, microcosm/macrocosm,distillation/sublimation, the chymical wedding and the Philosophical Child, amongstothers. For centuries,this symbolic languageessentially remained confined to the written word. Through repetition and moderation,alchemical authors evolved an ever- changingsymbology which potentially guardedthe methodologicaland ingrediential secrets of the Philosophers'Stone.

3.1 A Visual Culture

During the late Nfiddle Ages, the densesymbology of alchemical literature beganits transformation into pictorial representation. Highly emblematic,this striking visual manifestationof the alchemicallanguage incorporated a broad range of artistic styles and forms. Occurring acrossnumerous formats, this diverseiconography most often appearsin books and manuscripts. Assimilating words, phrasesor proverbs, or appearingalongside technical prose or obscurepoetry, this emblematicimagery frequently contains a significant literary dimension. However, despitethis textual emphasis,alchemical pictures sharelittle with conventionalillustration. Instead,emblematic pictures are usually self-governing, operating without necessaryreference to auxiliary literary content. Expressingand evoking alchemicalideas, this peculiar iconographyis characteristicallyambiguous; customarily, it doesnot clarify, but complementsany accompanyingliterature. The earliest examples,from the late fifteenth century, are mainly manuscript-basedand incorporatekey alchemical insignia. Exemplifying this emblematicism,several fifteenth-century versionsof Aurora Consurgensinclude thirty-eight watercolour illustrations.124 Highly symbolic, thesepictures embracemotifs typical of medievaland early modem alchemicalart, including an eagleand

123Dobbs, 1988: 183-84. 124Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas, Aurora Consurgens(fifteenth century). These manuscripts do not always include coloured illustrations. Those that do include: Prague,Universitni Knihovna, MS VI, Fd. 26; Prague, Chapitre Mdtropolitain, MS 1663,0. L)=; Glasgow, University Library, FergusonMS 6; Zurich, Zentralbibliothek, RhenoviensisMS 172; Berlin, StaatsbibliothekPreussischer Kulturbesitz, Germ. MS, qu. 848; Leiden, Vossiani Chemici MS, fol. 29; Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Parisinus Latinus MS 14006.

37 hermaphrodite(Fig. 3), Sun and Moon, King and Queen,dragon, snake,human genitalia, peacock,cherubim and imagesof death, sex and birth. 125Crucially, while theseimages evoke specific esotericconcepts, Aurora Consurgenssignificantly resists 'translation' and thus shieldsits secretsfrom "ungodly, foolish, slouthful and unthankefull hypocrites". A comparisonof Aurora Consurgenswith the fifteenth-centuryEnglish 'Ripley ScroH' yields evidenceof a sharedemblematic vocabulary. Including imagesof a Sun and Moon, serpent, birds, dragon, queen,and the elements,the 'Ripley Scroll' confirms the symbolism at the heart of Europeanalchemical culture. Commonto both medievalmanuscripts and early modem books, this figurative imagery fflustrates the binary characteristicsof alchemical discourse. Thusý,Aurora Consurgensand the 'Ripley ScroU' predictably offer binaristic pairings in the guise of the Sun and Moon, Man and Wornan and King and Queen.

The emblematicart representedby Aurora Consurgensand the 'Ripley Scroll' evolved throughout the courseof the sixteenthcentury, rapidly dominating broader alchemicalculture. By the end of the century, this visual symbology was widely recognized,disseminated throughout Europe via exquisite manuscriptsand high-quality printed tomes. Thesepivotal texts, which include Rosarium Philosophorum and the Splendor Solis, were frequently translatedand reprinted. During the early modem period, the diversity of book and manuscript art was immenseand included individual alchemical emblems,complex allegorical narratives and finely wrought sequentialscenes. While this complex range inevitably resistsconvenient synopsis, an excellentand exhaustivereview of alchemical 126 emblemsis provided by van Lennep'sAlchemie. Despite the disparity of media, style and form, the pictures reviewedby van Lennep are united by a commoncurrency of stock 127 emblemsand by a sharedunintelfigibility.

The popularity of alchemicalemblematic art reachedits peak sometime towards the close of the seventeenthcentury. By this stage,technological advances in printing processeshad ensuredan unprecedentedhigh-quality finish to illustrated texts. Reproducingnumerous examples,Stanislas Klossowski de Rola's The Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the SeventeenthCentury explores someof the most prevalentpicture-based texts of the period. Often publishedin the Netherlands,these books, which include Michael Maier's Atalanta

125Illustration in Aurora Consurgens, Zurich, Zentralbibliothek, Rhenoviensis MS 172, endpaper. 126Van Unnep, 1985. 127Twentieth-century alchemical researchfocused predominantly on theseemblems and their idiosyncratic ambiguity, with efforts directed towards the deciphering of the supposedalchemical code. Although some meanings have been ascribedto some symbols, it is generally agreedthat there is no fixed alchen-dcalvocabulary. Instead, most scholarsbelieve that, despiterecurrence of specific images, the 'meaning' of an alchemical emblem is dependenton its immediate context. For more on the symbolism of alchemy seeRoob, 2001; Klossowski de Rola, 1973; Roberts, 1994.

38 129 Fugiens'28and Symbola aureae mensae, generally consist of fine copperplateengravings, rather than the woodcutstypical of the fifteenth and sixteenthcenturies. Testifying to the dominant tradition of alchemicalsymbology, theseengravings frequently contain symbols evident in medievalart. In addition to lions, dragonsand birds, suns, moons,Icings, queens and entombedlovers pervadethe pagesof theseprinted seventeenth-centurytreatises. Remarkably, the binaristic emblematicism.manifest in the Emerald Tablet continuedto thrive until c. 1700.

3.2 Alchemy in GenreArt

An important centrefor alchemicaltexts, the Netherlandsproduced many of the most important engravers,authors and publishersof the period. Leiden and Antwerp were both significant seatsfor alchemicalgraphic culture, while Amsterdam occupieda position as one of the foremostEuropean venues for the publication of alchemicaltexts and engravings.

Curiously, however, while actively participating in this broad Northern Europeantrend, the Netherlandsengendered its own independentbranch of alchemicalart. Emerging as a major art form in the first decadesof the seventeenthcentury, genrepainting embraceda vast range of 'everyday' subjects. From drunken prostitutes to starving children, from jolly fishmongers to quiet astrologers,subjects for Netherlandishgenre painters were more or less inexhaustible. Moralistic, didactic, comical, lewd, reverential, satirical, wistful and wry, thesescenes of 'everyday life' also exploited every available style from overt caricature to perfect verisimilitude. Amongst the countlesssubjects jostling for artistic consumption,the chymist and his workshop enjoyedparticular success.With its genesisin the satirical prints of the mid-sixteenthcentury, thesegenre scenes emerged as the leading form of alchemicalart in both the Northern and SouthernNetherlands during the seventeenthcentury. Discussedat greater length in Chapter I and Chapter IV, The Alchemist by Pieter Bruegel the Elder was one of the first alchemicalscenes to exist as an independentwork of art. Inspiring generationsof alchemicalpainters, the highly satirical prints producedfrom Bruegel's drawing were someof the most influential of the period. Unlike the esotericemblematic art of manuscriptsand books, sixteenth-centuryprints such as thesewere not aimed at an initiated 'alchemical' audience. On the contrary, most were insteadcomical entertainment pieces,directed towards a generalmarket and designedto ridicule the gullibility of

128Maier, 1618. 129Maier, 1617.

39 chrysopoeianfantasists. Thesecaricature prints remainedpopular throughout the seventeenth century, surviving in essencethrough to the nineteenthcentury. 130

Judgingby the number of extant examples,genre paintings of the chyrnist were coveted during the seventeenthcentury, peaking in popularity in around 1670. Cultivated mainly in Haarlem and Antwerp, this themeencompassed all forms of chymistry and exploited every existing stylistic and tonal variant. Thus, Jan Steenoffers caricaturedvisions of greedy chrysopoeians,while Thomas Wijck presentssympathetic studies of quiet alchemical scholars. Similarly, while Hendrick Heerschopdepicts the chymical misadventureof a moneyedhobbyist, Gerard Thomas portrays the regular routine of a village iatrochernist. To a greaterextent, the range of attitudesdisplayed by genreartists towards their subject reflects contemporaryopinion. The most commontarget for satire appearsto be the untrained, ill- educatedvillage 'alchemist', who is addictedto the dream of the Philosophers'Stone. By contrast, the esotericscholar, who values learning and philosophy alongsideexoteric pursuits, surfacesas the most reveredsubject.

As this thesis shows,despite the wide variety of chymical genrepainting, reiteration and referencebetween these painters was endemic. Backdrops, characters,apparatus and entire sceneswere copied with conspicuousabandon. Paintersof every quality regularly filched the arrangementsof earlier, often printed, pieces. Undoubtedly,the most emulatedchymical artist of the period was David Teniers the Younger (1610-90). Discussedin Chapter 1, David Teniers was the most popular and prolific of all Netherlandishchymical genrepainters. Highly influential, his oeuvreneatly exemplifiesthe themeof the chymist in Netherlandish genreart and helps establisha model for the paintings examinedby this thesis. Like most chymical genrepainters, Teniers,situates his chymist within a visible, professionalworkshop; the amateurhobbyist is only rarely a subject for genrepainters of the seventeenthcentury. Unfailingly male, the protagonist is usually accompaniedby a collection of male apprentices and assistantsof varying ages. Appearing intermittently, the occasionalfemale characteris almost always relegatedto the obscurity of the distant background,often disappearing through a doorway. Reflecting and establishingnumerous trends, Teniers' oeuvre encompassespictures of both ill-trained and expert chymists, both prosperousand failing. While his paintings are ordinarily sympathetictowards alchemists,the artist occasionally executedsharp satires. Prints after his work depict monkeysoperating bellows (Fig. 4), 131

130 See,for example, Artist Unknown, Hocus Pocus or Searching For the Philosophers Stone, 1800. Reproducedin van Lennep, 1985: 4 10. 131 Pierre Frangois Basan after David Teniers, Le Plaisir desfous, eighteenth century, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.196.

40 while paintings, such as Alchemist Heating a Pot, more typically portray a well-groomed 132 alchemistwith heavy purse in a well-equippedand orderedlaboratory (Fig. 5).

Like many seventeenth-centurypainters, Teniers executedchymical equipmentwith considerableaccuracy. 133 In line with current criticism this thesis usesthe presenceof chymical apparatusto identify 'chymical' paintings. In her study of Teniers, JaneP. Davidson articulates a similar approachto classification:

David the Younger's paintings of alchemistscan always be identified (and thereby separatedfrom his frequentpaintings of village doctors and old scholars)by the presenceof certain laboratory apparatuswhich were indispensableto an alchemical operation. All the paintings of alchemistscontain either crucibles, alembics (distillation flasks), or athanors(large metal furnacesthat resemblestoves). Most of the paintings contain severalof thesepieces of apparatus,although the presenceof 134 any one object is sufficient to identify the subject as alchemy.

Amending this classification in line with Principe's terminology, this thesis interprets laboratory paraphernaliaas evidenceof general 'chymical' activity, rather than 'alchemy. Conforming to convention,Teniers consistentlyincorporates alchemical books, papersand both terrestrial and celestial globes,alongside chymical apparatus. With a heavy emphasison motif, chymical paintings also frequently integratesymbols of vanitas, such as skulls, snuffed candlesand hourglasses.

Serving as a templatefor countlesschymical paintings, Teniers' work was exploited by artists keen to duplicate the painter's artistic and financial achievements.Consequently, elements from Teniers' work regularly appearin chyTnicalpaintings from the mid-seventeenthcentury onwards. However, despitethe blatant repetition of themeand motif, the breadth of Chymical genreart during this period was extensive. This diversity, which will emergeexplicitly during the courseof the thesis,encompasses every contemporaryconception and perception of alchemy. Genrepaintings both celebrateand condemnalchemy; however, as ChaptersI and H show, satirical art more often focuseson chrysopoeia,while paintings sympatheticto alchemymore commonly concentrateon esotericism. In exploring thesevariations, this thesis uncoversthe underlying themesand motifs which unify the apparentdisparateness of the genre.

132David Teniers;the Younger, Alchemist Heating a Pot, c. 1660, Private Collection. Currently with Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.26. Oil on panel, 16" x 12". 133Ibis precision has prompted speculation that Teniers, like several other contemporaneousartists, was an alchemist as well as an artist. See,for example, Davidson, 1987: 72. 134Davidson, 1980: 40.

41 4 Gender Symbolism in Esoteric Alchemy

As the Emerald Tablet clearly illustrates, genderlies at the heart of alchemicalsymbology. Discussedat length during the courseof this thesis, the languageof genderand sexuality pervadesevery aspectof the opus. Throughout the Middle Ages and early modem period, alcheinistsand alchemicalwriters evokedgender and sex in both theoretical and physical treatises. A commonmetaphorical vocabulary emerged,transcending the closedarena of alchemy and infiltrating the public spherethrough drama and poetry. The word 'womb', for example,is employedacross early modem Europe to describethe alchemicalalembic, while the phrase 'women's work' universally representsthe secondstage of the opus.135 Equally, literary and pictorial referencesto lac virginis, menstrualblood, incest, prostitutes, sperm and eggswere also widespreadat the time. Much of this terminology developedfrom the primary alchemicaltheme of generation. Alchemical theory statesthat the Philosophers'Stone, or PhilosophicalChild, is 'born' of two reconciledpartners, an idea aligned with the literal birth of a child in alchemicaltexts. Thus, auxiliary themesof intercourse,gestation and breastfeedingnecessarily originate from this principal notion.

Yet, the significanceof genderfar transcendsthis often fragmentedand unsystematic vocabulary. Instead,the male and female essentiallyhead a complex binaristic ideology, which informs almost every facet of alchemicaltheory.

4.1 The Chymical Marriage

Key componentsof an intricate theoretical structure, the male and female of the alchemical equationassume various guisesin alchemicalart and literature: Red Man and White Woman, King and Queen,Adam and Eve, brother and sister, husbandand wife, father and daughter, son and mother, dog and bitch, cock and hen, twins and the two-headedHermaphrodite. As with so many alchemicalemblems, the meaningof thesefigures is implicitly dependanton context and, as such, their connotationsare incalculable. However, while eachconfiguration possessesinnate degreesof difference,the fundamentalnotion of equilibrium underpinsan alchemicalimages of male and female partnership. In essence,each alludesto the chymical marriage.

135MiS terminology is discussedin later chapters,particularly, Chapter IH: 116.

42 With its genesisin Islamic alchemy,the sulphur-mercurytheory of the generationof metals servesan imperative role in the chymical marriage. Central to both the early Arabic texts and the later Geber/pseudo-Gebertracts of the Nfiddle Ages, the sulphur-mercurytheory stated that the differencesbetween metals was determinedby the proportional contentof two conflicting properties,philosophical sulphur and philosophical mercury or argent vive.136 By manipulating theseratios and attaining absolutebalance, perfection and the goal of the opus could be reached. The opposition inherent to sulphur and argent vive is signified in alchemicaltreatises by a complex genderedcharacterization. 137 In effect, sulphur and argent vive representa litany of male and femalequalities: sulphur representsthe hot, dry, active masculineprinciple, while argent vive denotesthe cold, moist, receptivefemale. Similarly, sulphur is associatedwith fire and air, while argent vive correspondsto earth and water. Assuining the identities of Sol and Luna, thesemale and female personalitiesof the chyrnical marriage are also aligned to Gold and Silver. Thus, the chyrnical marriagedescribes the completereconciliation of opposites,a unification fundamentalto the manufactureof the Philosophers'Stone.

Characterizedby a seriesof successiverefinements, the opus alchymicum comprisesa cycle of dissolution and coagulation,or solve et coagula: the matter of the Stoneis decomposedand then reformedrepeatedly until perfection is realized. Specifically, the stageof coagulation signifies the successfulunion of oppositesand, therefore,represents the physical and metaphysicalconception of the 'chymical marriage'. The 'chymical marriage' occurs at various junctures throughout the courseof the opus; as such the correspondingvisual representationdepends substantially on which stageis being describedand the level of refinementattained. Thus, the image of the cock and hen denotesan initial, crude phase, while the presenceof the King and Queenindicates a refined point of conclusion. Intrinsic to this hypothesisis the alchemicalconcept of 'peaceand strife'. 138In her invaluable dictionary, Lyndy Abraham describes'peace' as "the harmoniousstate attained when the opposing principles of the opus, sulphur (male, hot, dry, active) and argent vive (female, cold, moist, receptive),are united in the chemical wedding".139 Through a processof 'strife' or

136 Known in medieval Europe as Geber, Jabir ibn Haiyan (c.721-815) was the most famous and influential of all Arabic alchemists. SeeNewman, 1991; Nomanul Haq, 1994; Partington, 1923: 219- 20; Holmyard ed., 1928. 137For a summary of the 'chymical' or 'chen-dcal' marriage seeAbraham, 2001: 35-39. 138 For complete description of the dual conceptsof 'peace and strife' seeAbraham, 2001: 141. See also Knoeff, 2002: 170. 139Abraham, 2001: 141.

43 opposition, the chymical marriage is realized and the conflicting, quarrelling elements are reconciled to peace.140

Critical to the argumentsof this thesis, the chymical marriage and the theory of 'peaceand strife' are fundamentalto all conceptionsof alchemy. Incorporating the symbologyof alchemy into its methodology,this project reinterpretsthe chymical marriage within the context of seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish genre painting. Thus, openingwith an analysis of domesticdiscord in paintings of the chyn-dcalworkshop, this thesis explicatesthe refashioningof genderedemblems with referenceto both traditional alchemicalimagery and Dutch genreiconography.

140Numerous contemporary referencesto peaceand strife exist. Perhapsthe most explicit of these belong to Benjamin Lock, who states:"peace is made by ioyning 2 extremestogether, that is to say sulph: and arg: vive". He continues, "after long strife [the elements] are made frendes, concluding in such a perfecte unity as can not be broken". Benjamin Lock, His Picklock to Riply his Castle, London, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, Wellcome MS 436, fol. 25.

44 CHAPTER I

EMBLEMATA AND DOMESTIC DISCORD: FEMALE DISQUIET AND EMBLEMATIC INTERTEXTUALrrY.

Counterbalanceto the sulphurousmale, the female of the chymical marriage is one of two defining componentswithin esotericalchemy. The 'She' of the alchemicalequation is the moon, silver, air, water and White Queen,to the Male's sun, gold, fire, earth and Red King. Heading an unfathomably intricate theoretical system,this female principle is inextricably entwinedwith the male. Through their dynamic equilibrium, the union of male and female engendersperfect and hallowed issue in the form of the elixir, or the Philosophers'Stone. Crowned by this genderedpartnership, the complex binaristic structuresof esotericalchemy reflect the fundamentalphilosophy of balancethrough opposition.

Traditionally, however,this model of genderequilibrium did not extendto the practical sphere. In medievalEurope, adeptswere supposedto be male, untouchedand untaintedby ' the female and the feminine world. In a quest which demandedsacrifice and spiritual purity, alchemistsrenounced all sexual contact. Located within universities and monasteries,2 the learning of alchemyand its associatedphilosophies by necessityexcluded women. 3 In these closedarenas, females existed only as "abstract figures, such as the Virgin Mary, Sapientia, female saints or miises".4 The propensity towards the physical exclusion of women was entirely separatefrom the esotericnotion of the chymical marriage; thesegender ideologies essentiallyoperated on different, but mutually tolerating, theoreticalplanes. 5 By the early modem period, however,the alchemicalrecluse had all but vanished. Relocatedfrom institution to the private home, alchemy found itself amongstthe family. 6 Early modem archival evidenceconfirms that few alchemistsabstained from femalecontact, with numerous

1 For more on the 'anti-feniinism' of alchemy seeRoberts, 1994: 89. 2 To be sure, alchemy itself did not generally feature in the syllabusesof medieval universities. However, alchemists undoubtedly exploited numerous philosophical and medical doctrines taught at universities. For more detail, seeCrisciani, 1997. 3 Alchemy had a long-standing relationship with religion. The most eminent of medieval European alchemists and natural philosophers either belonged or were associatedwith religious orders. Roger Bacon (1214-92), for example, was a Franciscan, Albertus Magnus (1193-1280) and Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) were both Dominicans, while Sir George Ripley was a Carmelite. For these alchemists see Stavenhagen,1974: 5; Klossowski de Rola, 1997: 114; Waite, 1970: 135. For the relationship between alchemy and religion in the Middle Ages, seeOgrinc, 1980: 103-32; de Pascalis, 1995; Obrist, 1993: 43-64; Theisen, 1995: 239-53. 4 Archer, 1999: 4. ii. 5 For more on the mate exclusion and dominance of the female in alchemy seeNewman, 1998. 6 SeeHarkness, 1997. For further discussion of this seeChapter H and Chapter IV: 143-152.

45 celebratedfigures boasting wives and children. By the seventeenthcentury the tradition of the chasteadept was maintainedonly by religious brotherhoodsand by stories of the mythologized 'wandering adept', a fabled figure who roamedthe lands refraining from all forms of worldly luxury. 7 Yet, while few early modem practitioners embracedmonastic seclusion,the alchemicalrealm remainedinherently fraternal. Although responsiblefor the managementof the householdand the domesticstillroorn, early modem women were generally excludedfrom the practice of alchemy.8 It is fairly certain that women did not play any active role in the extraordinary production of alchemical literature in the seventeenth century.9 Nor doesthis literature refer to any significant contemporaryfemale practitioners or theorists. Additionally, archival sourcesreveal no independentfemale alchemistsin any pan of contemporaryEurope. 10

Ousted from the laboratory, the female is absentfrom most depictionsof the chymical workshop. Appearing only occasionallyin Netherlandishchymical genrepainting, the female is an incongruouselement, which thereforedemands special attention. As Chapter H of this thesis explains, this elementis often applied in accordancewith doctrinesof esoteric philosophy. In thesepaintings, artists tolerant of alchemistsand alchemyharness the female as an emblemof domesticity, which strengthenstheir portrayals of societaland alchemical equilibrium. Conversely,this openingchapter exposesthe exploitation of the female as an emblemof domesticdiscord. Here the female doesnot representthe harmonious counterbalanceof argent vive, but insteadsignifies an unwelcomeforce in a corrupt masculinearena. In scenesof domesticand alchemicalturmoil, the male rejects the female, and in doing so, potentially rejects the ballast of the White Queen. Hendrick Heerschop,Jan Steen,Richard Brakenburgh,Adriaen van de Venne and Adriaen van Ostadeall employ female characterizationsin their unequivocalcondemnation of alchemistsand alchemy.

Examining female absenceand presencein alchemicalNetherlandish genre art of the seventeenthcentury, this tripartite chapter exploresthe developmentand origin of specific portraits of domesticdiscord and their relationship to the practice of alchemy. In particular, it expoundsthe genderedsymbolism of chymical genrepainting, locating female emblems within the iconographicaltraditions of Dutch emblemataand ancientalchemical symbology. The first sectionanalyses the image of the mother cleaning her baby and its evolution from

7 These legendswere cultivated by numerous alchemical tracts, including Trismosin, 1598 and Philaletha, 1667. 8 For more on the role of women in the stillroom and on the history of women in alchemy seeChapter IV. 9 Nummedal, 2001: 57. 10The issue of female chymists and their lack of independencein the seventeenthcentury is discussed at length in Chapter IV.

6 46 the Dutch emblembook; the secondexamines the recurrenceof the unhappy matriarch, while the closing part discussesheterogeneous portraits of female disquiet.

In its discussionof chymical paintings, this chapter revealsthe importanceof repetition and referenceto the developmentof alchemicalart. It contendsthat through this matrix of allusions, and specifically through the depiction of marital disintegration,artists denouncethe social consequencesof human folly and the alchemicalquest. In addition, it proposesthat theseimages of marital disharmony,and similarly genderedemblems, would have cominunicatedalchemical meanings to a contemporaryaudience familiar with alchemical symbology and concepts.

Mother and Infant, Dit lijf, wat ist, alsstanck en mist?

1.0

The PhilosophicalChild is central to alchemicaldoctrine and iconography. Bom from the union of Sol and Luna, the male and the female of the chymical wedding,the Infant Stone encapsulatesconcepts central to alchemical lore: unification, procreation,relgeneration and purification. Naturally, therefore,the 'Infant' appearsoften in illustrative emblematic compositions,sometimes as a baby with its parents, as an egg, or as a seedin an alembic. Predominantin chymical manuscripts,the image of the baby also recurs with conspicuous frequencyin Netherlandishpaintings of the alchemist's laboratory. Deviating from symbolic representation,these genre paintings contain a more true-to-life depiction of the chymist's family. Babies, children and young animals are all popular featuresof thesepaintings. ViNle the 'Infant' adoptsvarious guisesin alchemical art, a distinctive emblemresurfaces in genre painting. In both Hendrick Heerschop'sAlchemist's Experiment TakesFire (Fig. 6)" and Adriaen van Ostade'sAlchemist (Fig. 7), a child appearswith its mother, situatedon the fringes of the scene.12 In both paintings the mother is wiping the bottom of the baby, an icon of significanceto both Netherlandishliterature and alchemicaliconography. This section exploresthe significanceof this emblemwithin a chymical context and examinesthe relationshipbetween genre paintings and emblemata.

11Hendrick Heerschop,The Alchemist's Experiment Takes Fire, 1687, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.276. Oil on canvas laid down on board, 21" x 17 1/2". Provenance:Fisher Scientific; Sir William JacksonPope, May 1928 (Berolzheimer information from Pope); van Duren Gallery, London, 1928 (RKD photo). 12Adriaen van Ostade,The Alchemist, 1661, National Gallery, London NG846. Oil on oak, 34 cm x 45.2 cm. Signed and dated near the fireplace: Av. Ostade. Provenance:bought with the Peel collection, 1871.

47 1.1 Hendrick Heerschop's Alchemist's Experiment Takes Fire

Little is known of the life and training of Hendrick Heerschop.13 Genrepainter and etcher,he was born in Haarlem in either 1620 or 1621. Possibly a studentof Rembrandtin Amsterdam, Heerschopwas pupil to Willem ClaeszHeda in Haarlem in 1642. In 1648, he enteredthe artists' Guild of Haarlem and is mentionedagain in guild records in 1661. Hendrick Heerschop'sAlchemist's Experiment TakesFire is uncharacteristicof seventeenth-century Netherlandishalchemical painting. The archetypal dark, cluttered spacesof Teniers and van Ostadegive way to the clean lines and uniform walls more commonto the Italian School. The straw-strewnfloors of van Helmont and van der Bosscheare transformedinto spotless surfacesfilled with shiny objects: an oversizedpewter plate, a substantialgolden pestle and mortar, a hefty pair of bellows and a tall polished urn. Upon the smooth,milky walls, sturdy shelveshold decorativevessels, whose exotic shapeslend an air of eleganceto the room. Utility is supplantedby ornament. The arch of the window is reflected in the curve of the doorway to produce a senseof symmetry and order. The colourful and costly variations of the palette compoundthe senseof luxury. The furniture is draped in rich, vibrant cloths; swathesof crimson hang beneathan open book, while the worktop is cloakedwith layers of blue fabric. The primary figure of the scene,a seatedmale, is dressedin lavish textiles. Swathesof greenmaterial clad his legs, while a chestnutjacket shroudshis torso. Here is a moderatelyaffluent man settledin his wealthy surroundings. In the background,in a room beyond, sits the family: a mother with her two young children. They are dressedwell, and sit quietly, a picture apart.

This is not a workshop but a private spacefor personalendeavour, an area in which a whim is indulged. The small laboratory sparkleswith the newnessand cleanlinessof unusedtools. The sceneshows just one small furnace under the window, while a diminutive distillation bubbles away, tucked neady in the comer of the room. This is an amateurchymist at work. In the early modem burgher home, such experimentationwas a worthy pastime,beneficial to both the running of the householdand to the bettermentof the scholarly mind. But this is not simply an exercisein functional chymistry; this picture specifically depicts an aspirant chrysopoeian,the transmuterof metals.

The pewter pan that lies in the bottom right hand comer of the foregroundhas a small curved sectionextracted, with this imperfection turned towards the viewer. This categorically

13For a biography of Heerschopsee lbieme-Becker, 1996-97,16: 235.

48 identifies the painting as chrysopoeian. The warming pan, occurring in severalcontemporary alchemicalpaintings, refers to a celebratedtale in tile alchemical canon.14 The story existed in severalvariations throughout early modem Europe, but the most commonconcerns the English mathematicianand natural philosopher,John Dee, and his dubious scryer, Edward Kelly. Accounts suggestthat to prove their chrysopoeianabilities to Elizabeth 1, Dee or Kelly cut a circular shapefrom the rim of a cheapwarming pan. Using the elixir which "they found [ ] Glastenbury", into it, ... at they then transmutedthe piece silver and returned with the plate, to Elizabeth.15 In his Theatrum ChemicumBritannicum, Elias Ashmole turned rumour- mongerer:

Moreover, for neererand later Testimony, I have receivedit from a credible Person, that one Broomfield and Alexander Roberts, told him they had often seenSir Ed: Kelly make Projection, and in particular upon a piece of Metall cut out of a Warming pan, and without Sir Edwards touching or handling it, or melting the Metall (onely warrifing it in the Fire) the Elixir being put thereon,it was Transmutedinto pure Silver: The Wam-dng-panand this piece of it, was sent to QueenElizabeth by her Embassadorwho then lay at Prague,that by fitting the Pieceinto the place whenceit was cut out, it might exactly appeareto be once part of that Warming-pan.16

Similar reports spreadthroughout Europe, causing great sensationand enduringin the popular 17 imagination for centuriesto come. Heerschop'sscene, however, relatesa very different tale. In the unfortunate absenceof alchemical"pure Silver", the chymist's pains, along with the family warming pan, are squanderedin a futile and avaricious quest.

This quiet indication of failure is compoundedpowerfully by a spectacularexplosion within this legitimate and prosperousinterior. Frozen eternally in mid-air, a shatteredalembic is engulfedby flames and smoke. The alarmed chymist shiesaway from the noise, his face filled with suddenfright. lEs head is turned back towards the experiment,while his arms and legs reach out in the oppositedirection. As the chair topples forward, its irregular diagonals createlinear turmoil in an otherwiseperpendicular space. While the explosion causes consternationin the small laboratory, in the backgroundthe family, calmly composed, continue with their everydayduties. The strangely static family group appearsnot to hear the blast which startles the chyrnist. The mother quietly cleansthe baby's bottom oblivious to the cacophonyof the dramatic accident. Occupying their own archedframe, they embodyan independentand distinct family portrait. Lawrence M. Principe and Lloyd DeWitt suggest

14The warming pan is not to be confusedwith the similarly shaped,but deeper,blood-letting plates which are common to paintings of the barber-shopand the physician's workshop. 1,5Ashmole, 1652: 48 1. 16Ashmole, 1652: 481-82. 17The fable appearsagain, for example, in Chapter 1 of Atwood, 1850: 55.

49 that the mother's actions of cleaningher child "may well be making a scatologicalcriticism of her husband'sobviously unsuccessfulactivities". 18 While an early modem viewer would have recognizedthis correlation, the maternal composition implies far more than this. The significanceof this image lies in the cipher of the Dutch emblembook.

Derived directly from the pagesof the emblembooký Heerschop's portrait of the mother and baby is chargedwith moralistic undercurrents. In a quintessentialDutch emblemcomposed originally by Adriaen van de Venne,a woman wipes an infant's bottom under the motto, "Dit 19 lijf, wat ist, alsstancken mistT' Fhis body, what is it, but stink and dung?] (Fig. 8). Beneaththe image, a poemby the strict Calvinist Johande Brune explains that human bodies, however exquisite, are conceivedin basesexual union and, as such, are no more than flesh, prone to decay and putrefaction. This emphasison vanitas, signified by the presenceof skulls, hourglassesand snuffed candles,recurs with notable consistencyin paintings concernedwith avarice or egotism.20

Further to this emblematicsignificance, the image of the mother and baby operatesin accordancewith themesof contemporarysatire. The bodily excretionsof young children are of special relevanceto the alchemicalprocess. 'Children's Piss' is a synonymfor the mercurial water or prima materia, at the stageof putrefaction and blacknessin the initial phaseof the opus. Excrement,either human or animal, is of even greaterimport in the opus. On a practical level it was usedduring the distillation processto createheat for the alembic. More importantly, esotericphilosophy proposedthat the waste usedin laboratory procedures was somehowtransubstantiated into the prima materia; it was from dung that the elixir would develop. Not surprisingly this scatologicalaspect was keenly and widely ridiculed by writers and artists throughout Europe, who hijacked the terminology of alchemyin comedicattacks on fraudstersand gullible fools. In Ben Jonson'sAlchemist, Subtle usesthe alchemical metaphorof the purification of matter out of dung when berating Face for ingratitude, after he has beenrescued from obscurity:

Thou vermin, have I ta'en thee out of dung, So poor, so wretched,when no living thing Would keep thee company,but a spider, or worse?

18Principe and DeWitt, 2002: 26. 19William de Passafter Adriaen van de Venne, This Body, Mat Is It, But Stink and Dung?, Emblem III from de Brune, 1624: 17. 20The inconsequentiality of human existenceand actions was an enormously popular subject in Netherlandish literature. These symbols of genre painting occur also within emblem books. See,for example, Cats, 1632: 137 in which a snuffed candle is accompaniedby the motto "Quid est homo? Lucerna sub d1opositaC' [What is man? But a candle under the sun].

50 Rais'd thee from brooms, and dust, and watering-pots, Sublimedthee, and exaltedthee, and fix'd thee In the d-fird.region, call'd our state of grace?21

Jonson'sparody of the alchemicalprocess assumes a certain degreeof lay understanding.22 His audience,largely ignorant of complex chymistry, must recognizethe relevanceof "watering-pots" and "dune' to Jonson'salchemical joke. Similarly, in Pantagruel when FranqoisRabelais parodies the well known belief that the elixir can be producedfrom dung, there is an assumedlevel of comprehensionin the readership:

But Panurgethrew up most violently, seeinga prefect fermenting a huge vat of human piss with horse shit, adding in large quantities of Christian crap. Shameon the disgustingfellow! All the same,he assuredus that this sacreddistillation was drunk by their kings and royal princes, and prolongedtheir lives a good fathom or two.23

Central to seventeenth-centurysatirical attacks, bodily waste was evokedfrequently to ridicule and revile the chymical scamsof shrewd swindlers and thosecredulous enough to believe then-L

1.2 Adriaen van Ostade'sAlchemist

Occurring in conjunction with the sensationalexplosion, Heerschop'sallusion to dung evokes the scepticismof satirists like Jonsonand Rabelais. The derisive allusion to bodily excretions was not rare in alchemicalpaintings, and had beenexploited a century earlier in the work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.24 The developmentof the mother and baby motif in genrepainting, however, seemsspecific to the seventeenthcentury, occurring again in Adriaen van Ostade's Alchemist.

21Jonson, 1995: 31 [11.64-69]. 22Writers also employed this aspectof alchemy in non-satirical works, which further proves a lay appreciation of alchemy. John Donne's 'To The CountessOf Bedford' and 'To Mr Rowland Woodward' both evoke the image of alchemical 'dung'. SeeDonne, 2000: 52,194. 23Rabelais, 1991: 568. 24A diagram reproducedin van Lennep's Alchemie shows a man defecating into a balneurn which would provide the heat for the alembic. On his buttocks is written "Qui merdarn seminat, merdarn metet" [He who sows shit reaps shit]. Van Lennep explains that "allusions aux excrdmentsne sont pas rares dans les traits alchimiques" [allusions to excrement are not rare in alchemical works], and are often used to ridicule the belief that filth was an integral part of exoteric alchemy; van Lennep, 1985: 347. He further suggeststhat Bruegel's Dulle Griet, 1561, mocks the chyrnists who believed that faecescould cultivate gold. For further discussionof this painting and excrement, seevan Lennep, 1985: 346-47.

51 Baptized in Haarlem on 10 September1610, Adriaen van Ostade(originally Adriaen Hendricx) becameone of the most prolific Netherlandishartists of his generation.25 According to JacobusHoubraken, he studied alongsideAdriaen Brouwer and Jan Nfiense Molenaer from 1627, under the tutelageof Frans Hals. Specializing in low-life genre painting, van Ostadealso producednumerous portraits and etchings. By 1634 he had joined the Haarlem Guild of St. Luke and, significantly, later acquired as pupils the future alchemicalpainters Jan Steen,Cornelis Bega, and Richard Brakenburgh. In 1662 he was electeddean of the guild, achievingwide successas a painter before dying in 1685. Typical of Netherlandishalchemical paintings, van Ostade'sAlchemist portrays a very different scene to The Alchemist's Experiment TakesFire. In a darkened,cluttered interior, hunchedin front of his fire, the red-nosedvillage alchemistattempts to transform basematerials into gold. The room is scatteredwith symbolswhich mark human mortality: a prominent hourglass,a snuffed candle and crumbling walls. The floor is unevenand littered with broken pottery, scraps of cloth and upturned vessels. The antithesisof Heerschop'sstark, clean room, this spaceis squalid and used,with powerfully conflicting lines and shadowycomers. Yet, despitethe disparity betweenthe two paintings, they sharethe familiar motif of de Brune's mother and infant. In the background,tucked into a comer, a woman, presumablythe chymist's wife, is cleaningher baby while anotherchild plays with apparatusnearby. As in Heerschop'swork, the mother and baby comprise a separatepicture; they sit in a detached area, with independentlighting and a view to the outside world. They are a picture apart. Like The Alchemist's Experiment TakesFire, van Ostade'sAlchemist condemnsthe practice of chrysopoeia,as narcissistic folly, offensive to God's autonomyin the creation of matter, and pathetic in its disastrousfinancial consequences.In confirmation of this reading, a parchmentunderneath the foreground stool is inscribed with the motto "oleum et operam perdis" [Your time and effort will be in vain]. The dilapidated interior reflects the financial consequencesof the alchemist's foolish businessventure. This is a portrait of economic failure, familial disintegration and moral irresponsibility. Van Ostade,like Heerschop, assimilatesthe mother and baby into the primary moralistic messageof his painting, communicatingthe threat that cupidity and egocentricity poseto the stability of the Netherlandishhome. 26

25For a biography of van Ostade seeThieme-Becker, 1996-97,26: 74-75. Seealso Pelletier, 1994; van der Coelen, 1998. 26The insolvency of alchemical enterprise was satirized vigorously acrossthe arts in the seventeenth century. The Republic's decentralization and increasing industrial specialization prompted a shift in art and literature towards themes of personal liability and individual industry. See,for example, van Lennep, 1985: 360-62; de Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 291-93.

52 1.3

While the mother and baby icon is used by Heerschopand van Ostadeto promote themesof familial responsibility, it is simplistic to reducethese works to their emblematiccomponents. As de Jongh and othershave suggested,while the discovery of a correspondencebetween genrepaintings and emblembooks has provided new insights, it has also encouragedover- simplification: an entire painting is in dangerof being reducedto a single message.It is important to emphasizethat both the Heerschopand van Ostadepaintings are multivalent works, operating on numerouslevels. Both artists exploit the parallel of the alchemistin an exploration of the transmutingproperties of art; as prima materia and dung transmuteinto gold, basepaint transmutesinto art, or perhapsmore cynically, gold coinage. During the 27 Middle Ages and early modem period, painting had a peculiar relationship with alchemy. For much of this time Northern Europeanpainters were, by necessity,chymists, 28 manufacturersof pigments,oils and varnishes. Consequently,artists accumulated significant expertisein experimentationand frequently documentedtheir work and new discoveries.29 From this practical chymistry emergeda natural affiliation with both esoteric alchemy and chrysopoeia. Constantijn Huygens, for example,attacked Hendrick Goltzius' fascination with alchemyin his unfinished autobiographY. 30 Karel van Mander's authoritative Schilerboeckrelates, mistakenly, how van Eyck 'discovered' the secretof oil paint in his 31 alchemist's laboratory. This story gainedspecial currency in the seventeenthcentury, and was highly inythicized through rumours of secretalliances and hermetic codes. Moreover, the myth surroundingvan Eyck's creation is inextricably linked to smell; curious viewers noted that his paintings smelt different from other artists', which encouragedmuch 32 Seventeenth-century Ostade, the image speculation. artists, particularly van often used of 33 the mother cleaning the baby's bottom to signify 'Smell' in allegoriesof the five senses. This emphasison odour in Heerschop'sand van Ostade'swork enforcesthe relationship betweenthe mystery of the Philosophers'Stone and the artist's palette. The seventeenth century marked a culmination of growing self-consciousnessin artists and print-makersboth

27See Newman, 20(9: 115-163. 28For more on the relationship betweenartists and chymists seeBall, 2002: 72-102. 29From as early as the fourteenth century, artists carefully recorded their recipes and alchen-dcal experiments in the creation of new pigments. SeeCennini, 1960: 24-25,28-30,33-34. 30See Huygens, 1971: 72. For more on Goltzius' involvement with the alchemist Leonard Engelbrecht seeBredius, 1914: 137-46. 31Van Mander wrote of van Eyck: "He was (according to some) also a wise, learned man, very inventive and ingenious in various aspectsof art; he investigated numerous kinds of paint and to that end practised alchemy and distillation". He then relates the artist's discovery of a new type of oil paint, which was admired throughout Europe. Van Mander, 1994,1: 56-57. 32See Jones, 2002: 8-9. 33See for example, Adriaen van Ostade,Sense ofSmell, date unknown, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia; Jan Mense Molenaer, Smell, c. 1637, Royal Cabinet of Paintings, Mauritshuis, Ibe Hague.

53 in the Northern and SouthernNetherlands. As the Republic becamemore prosperousat the beginning of the century the art market grew rapidly. This, combinedwith increased specializationand wider availability of materials, led to increasedproductivity. These developmentsengendered a generationof self-discriminatingpainters, who saw themselves less as craftsmenand more as artists. As such, paintings beganto addressthe purposeof art and the role of its creators. Thesenewly analytical artists openly employ the metaphorof dung to describethe materials and processesof their work. In an etching of 1645, Aert van Waes of Gouda depicts a painter defecatingon his palette (Fig. 9).34 While this print alludes to the sublimation of paint, it also expressesthe desperatecircumstances in which domestic, destitute artists found themselves.Facing promisedtriumphs, as well as real-life failure, the painter aligns himself with the impoverishedvillage chymist. The allusion to the mother and baby in alchemicalart, therefore,not only evokesthe moralistic meaningsof the emblem book, but also addressesthe plight of the domesticartist and the nature of art itself.

Maternal Distress, Rijcke-Armoede

2.0

The chrysopoeiandesecration of the family purse embodiesthe antithesisof Northern Netherlandishindustry. Unsurprisingly, then, the themeof the last family coin entering the alchemist's crucible is one which pervadesgenre painting in the Dutch Republic. Several drawings and paintings depict the momentat which the final coin is sacrificed to the flames of the furnace. Thesecensorious works, while characteristicallydepicting the empty family purse, famishedchildren and bare cupboards,also describea specific genderdelineation. 35 The male chyrnist is regularly portrayed hunchedover a furnace while his nearby, wailing wife gesturesto their hungry children. While the male embodiesthe wasteful and immoral sphereof chrysopoeia,the femaleis the harassedprotector of the house,guardian of both the children and the family funds. Through the courseof centuries,the distressedwife and starving children developedinto a stock symbol, signifying female vulnerability and victimhood.

34Aert van Waes, Painter Defecating on Palette and Brushes, 1645. Reproducedin de Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 251. 35Examples not discussedin the following analysis include Dutch School, The Alchemist, date unknown, Mus6e Wart et d'histoire, Geneva;Dutch School, The Alchemist, date unknown, Panstwowe Zbiory Sztuki na Wawelu, Krakow.

54 The next sectionexplores the function of the anguishedmother and negligentfather within alchemical genrepaintings. Furthermore,it examinesthe developmentof theseimages and the intertextuality of genderedalchemical motifs in the work of Adriaen van de Venne, Richard Brakenburghand Jan Steen.

2.1 Addaen van de Venne's Rijcke-Armoede

A leading illustrator of Dutch emblembooks, Adriaen van de Vennepossessed a keen 36 understandingof the moralistic force of art and the relationship betweenword and picture. According to Cornelis de Bie, van de Venne was bom in Delft in 1589, after his parents fled persecutionin the SouthernNetherlands. For the most part, van de Venne was self-taught, benefiting only from the tuition of undistinguishedlocal craftsmen. Working as an illustrator and print designer,he settledin Middleburg in 1614, collaborating with his brother Jan, a well-known publisher, in the production of emblembooks. Relocating to the Hague, van de Venneregistered in the Guild of St. Luke in 1625 and was repeatedlyelected dean. Throughout his career,he worked as a painter, book illustrator, print designer,propagandist and poet, variously exploring the relationslýiipbetween text and imagery. Collaborating with leading Netherlandishemblem book writers such as Jacob Cats, van de Venne's illustrations, which include the mother and baby emblem(Fig. 8), contributed significantly to the popularity of Dutch emblemata. Steepedin the emblembook tradition, van de Venne's genre scenesepitomize the intertextuality and interlacementwhich characterizealchemical genre paintings. V; Wle Rijcke-Armoede(Fig. 10) envelopsthe essenceof emblemliterature, it also 37 exemplifiesthe custom of consciousreference to a universal body of alchemicalart.

Rijcke-Annoedeis part of a seriesof brunailles, a sketch-styleof oil painting executedin brown monochrome. Each one bears a proverb-basedcaption, leading the viewer to a clear interpretation of the work. This painting depicts a crude, disorderedlaboratory in which a chymist is seatedat the kitchen fumace. On the furnace breast is tacked a note bearing the words 'Rijcke-Armoede', or, 'Rich-Poverty'. Instructive titles or statementswithin artworks were commonduring this period, occurring often in paintings, drawings and genreprints. While the primary principle of Rijcke-Armoedeis not clarified by a verseor narrative, the motto and emblematicindicators laid out for the perceptiveNetherlandish viewer evokethe lernmaand pictorial elementsof the emblembook.

36For further discussionsof van de Venne seeThieme-Becker, 1996-97,34: 213; Bie, 1662; Bol, 1989; Francken Dz., 1878; Plokker, 1984; Bol, 1958: 131. 37Adriaen van de Venne, Rijcke-Artnoede, 1630, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.284. Oil on panel, 15" x 19 1/2". Signed and dated lower centre. Provenance:Fisher Collection; gift of Fisher Scientific International.

55 The painting depicts a domesticarena typical of Netherlandishgenre paintings. A male figure, with bent head and practisedabsorption, inserts an unseenobject into the crucible he holds in his left hand. In the backgroundbehind the chymist standsa woman with two children by her side. Her face, contortedby anguish,is turned upwards towards heavenand in her openedhand she revealsthe last family coin. Abandonedby her husbandand financially ruined, this solitary female appearsentirely powerlessin the face of poverty. The two small boys by their mother's side beg for food; the distressedchild on her right carries a spoon,indicting hunger,while the other looks to his mother for a sign of hope, tugging at her sleeveand holding out a hand for sustenance.As Heerschop'schymist remainsunaware of, and indifferent to, his family in the backroom, so too is van de Venne's alchemistoblivious to his domesticresponsibilities. This is a sceneof private familial tragedy, in which the solitary female confronts the inevitable fate of her young family. Rijcke-Artnoedeis an unequivocal condemnationof the domesticchymist, lambastinghis transmutationalaspirations as foolish and foolhardy.

2. Li Pieter Bruegel's Alchemist

To comprehendfuRy the domineeringdidacticism of Rijcke-Armoedeone must look to the genreprints of the sixteenthcentury. Van de Venne's art was heavily influencedby both the landscapesof Jan Bruegel the Elder and the moralizing peasantvignettes of his father Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A drawing producedby the latter in 1558 is particularly relevant to an emblematicinvestigation of van de Venne's brunailles. It is believedthat Pieter Bruegel the Elder was born in Breda, sornetin-vebetween 1525 and 1530.38Settling in Antwerp, Bruegel developeda reputation as an innovative and accomplishedpainter and draughtsman, exploiting the commercial and publishing opportunities offered by the vibrant city. He had registeredwith the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke by 1552 and, following a trip to Italy, cultivated a long-term relationshipwith the Flemish artist and publisher Hieronymus Cock and his publishing house, 'Aux Quatre Vents' [At the Four Winds]. Heavily influencedby HieronymusBosch, the prints producedfrom Bruegel's drawings enjoyedremarkable popularity. Drawing on allegory and proverb, Bruegel's prints not only informed the work of his extensiveartistic family, but appreciably influencedgenerations of Northern European artists. One of the earliest alchemicalgenre prints, The Alchemist (Fig. 11) inspired

38For more on the biography and work of Bruegel seeThieme-Becker, 1996-97,5: 100-02.

56 generationsof alchemicalpainters. 39 Made from Bruegel's original designdrawing, these prints were widely disseminatedby Hieronymus Cock, achieving a vast audienceacross Europe and attaining remarkablelongevity. 40 Eddy de Jongh and Ger Luijten, in a survey of Netherlandishgenre prints, arguethat those "after Bruegel placed an indelible stamp on the 41 appearanceand iconographyof later printe'. Describing the durability of the artist's work, they add:

Copying and making restrikesfrom old copperplatesis a leitmotif that runs throughout the history of printmaking and in this particular context it is impossibleto overstatethe importanceof thesepractices for the availability of prints decades,even centuriesafter they first appeared. The copperplatesof Spring and Summerafter Pieter Bruegel publishedby HieronymousCock in Antwerp in 1570 were still being laid on the pressat the end of the eighteenthcentury in Amsterdam.42

The Alchemist amountsto a violent but entertainingattack on householdtransmutational alchemy. The print depicts a makeshift laboratory, probably a kitchen, a chaotic haven for puffers, fools and naughty children. In this dishevelledroom, an unkempt man sits at a furnace, dropping a coin into a crucible. A pot on the stove spills its steamingcontents onto the work surface, but blinded by his drooping cap, the father works on. With his back to his wife, the would-be alchemistis oblivious to his busy family. His three children play dangerouslyclose to an oversized,smoking cauldron, with one wearing the customary pot on his head,signifying both the myopia of his father and, in the tradition of Dutch emblemata, his lack of training. On the floor a grotesquefool with a distorted face conically mocks the work of the chymist by wasting precious coals on an upset crucible. Towards the right of the scenea scholar sits with an open book pointing to the word 'Alghe-mist', a pun on the terms 43 'alchemist' and 'all is ruined' or 'all is dung'. The fruition of the alchemist's endeavoursis anticipatedin the window scene:mother, father and children are forced into the poorhouse. This print is an unambiguousdenunciation of the 'puffer, the amateur,provincial chymist whosegreed and egotismbring ruin to the whole family. Articulating this condemnation,the cryptic caption which lies beneaththe image appearsto attack the ignoranceand lazinessof

39Pieter Bruegel the Elder, The Alchemist, 1558, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania. Engraved by Phillipe Galle, distributed by Hieronymus Cock. As Bruegel's work was accessedby other artists mainly via print, this chapter refers to a print version of The Alchemist. 40 Literature on this print and its original drawing is exhaustive and includes: Orenstein ed., 2001: 170; van Lennep, 1985: 348-50; Warlick, 2002: 27; Read, 1947: 63-66; Principe and DeWitt, 2002: 11-12; Warlick, 2001: 20,21,30; Winner, 1979: 193-202. 41De Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 16. 42De Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 16. 43 Evoking the scatological aspectsof the opus, this referenceanticipates the primary theme of seventeenth-centuryalchemical satire discussedearlier. SeeOrenstein ed., 2001: 170.

57 aspiring chrysopoeians,while ironically appropriating the idiosyncratically obscurelanguage of alchemicalliterature:

DEBENT IGNARI RES FERRE ET POST OPERARI IVS LAPD)IS CARI VILIS SED DENIQVE RARI VNICA RES CERTA VELIS SED VBIQVE REPERTA QVATVOR INSERTA NATVRIS IN NVBE REFERTA NVLLA MMERALIS RES EST VBI PRINCIPALIS SED TALIS QVALIS REPERITVR VBIQVE LOCALIS. 44

Bruegel's print containsmotifs which would be usedin Netherlandishgenre paintings over a century later: both the hat pulled low over the alchemist's eyesand the children in cupboards are evident in Pierre Chenu's engravingafter a seventeenth-centurypainting, Menage du Chimiste;45 the aping of the chymist's actions appearsin Richard Brakenburgh'sAn Alchemist's Workshopwith Children Playing (Fig. 12), while messyinteriors, hourglasses, upturned vessels,family disintegration,the inclusion of a motto and the image of the last coin characterizecountless alchemical paintings. 46 Rijcke-Annoede exploits Bruegel's Alchemist in various ways: the door and barrel which comprise a table is taken directly from the earlier engraving,the unusually large and bulbous distillation apparatusbehind Bruegel's wife reappearsbehind van de Venne's husbandand a motto is tacked to the mantle in both pictures. Both works also use the themeof the last coin to describethe collapseof the family.

Most significant for this study, however, is the genderpolarity which Bruegel's composition establishes.VVUle they clearly embodya professionalpartnership, colluding in the same alchemicalenterprise, the male and female occupy entirely different spaces. Erect on a stool and with his back to his family, the chymist faces into the fumes of the furnace. The wife, however, squatsawkwardly with her back to her husband,her body turned fully outwards towards the viewer; the male is introverted, the female extroverted. Restrictedby a sagging cap, and with his back to thosein the overcrowdedroom, the male rejects the intrusion both of the matemal world and of the viewer. In contrast, the woman's body is turned to the fore and her eyesgaze engagingly into thoseof the viewer, evoking a pathos otherwiseabsent from the work. As the male holds the 'last coin' in his hand, the femaleholds the empty

44Translation: "The ignorant ought to suffer things and labour accordingly / The law of the precious Stone, common but also rare / Is a certain thing, vile but found everywhere/ With the four natures, stuffed in a cloud / It is no mineral, and while it is unique / It is of such a kind as to be found everywhere." 45Pierre Chenu, Menage du Chimiste, date unknown, location unknown. Distributed by Basan, Paris. Reproducedin Read, 1947: 77. The engraving was originally basedon a painting erroneously attributed toThomas Wijck. 46Richard Brakenburgh, An Alchemist's Workshop%ith Children Playing, c. 1685, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.11. Oil on canvas,30" x 34".

58 purse in hers. There are distinct parallels betweenthis and van de Venne's work. In Rijcke- Annoede, the male and femaleoccupy independentspaces: the chymist sits while his wife standsstatuesquely by. Thesefigures, like those of Bruegel, are completelyseparate, the antithesisof the alchemical,and indeedChristian, marriage. The positioning of van de Venne's and Bruegel's alchemistsis also strikingly similar; both are turned towards the furnace and facing the left of the painting, away from the viewer and the wife. As in Bruegel's composition,van de Venne's female turns towards the viewer, inspiring pity through her open, tormentedexpression. She evenholds out her empty left hand, like Bruegel's wife, to indicate the exhaustionof the family purse. Moreover, the mother and children again comprisean independentmaternal picture, away from the father and the patriarchal realm of the furnace.

Significantly, however,Bruegel's model placesthe wife in the heart of the workshop; she is 47 pictured seated,settled into the chymical environmentand peering over the fool's stove. By her feet have fallen a pair of bellows. Although the couple occupy separatespaces, then, the femaleis clearly complicit in the collapseand ruin of family. Van de Venne,however, transmutesBruegel's sceneinto a moralistically genderedvision, which caststhe female as the guardian of the householdthat the male threatensto destroy. Here, the artist presentsa wife absolvedof the guilt. The male and female symbolize a dichotomy, not simply in an alchemicalsense, but in a moralistic context. As the Sulphurous male representsan inventory of philosophicalcomponents, van de Venne's male signifies gullibility, egotism,greed, spiritual degeneration,weakness and sightlessness.In contrast, the femaledenotes the family, virtue, victimhood, powerlessnessand yet, conversely,maternal strength. The female and the family are at the mercy of an insatiable male greed. From Bruegel's early and qualified depiction of genderdivision descendeda bountiful alchemicallegacy. The wailing mother with hungry children would becomea standardfeature of alchemicalart, signifying the personaltragedy of domesticchrysopoeia.

2.2 Richard Brakenburgh's Alchemist's Workshop With Children Playing

In cultivating a web of emblematicand chyrnical allusions, Rijcke-Armoedeestablishes itself as part of the alchemicaltradition, influencing Richard Brakenburgh's portrayal of the

47The location of the wife within the heart of the workshop is discussedat greater length in Chapter IV in referenceto images of female chymistry. Significantly, Cornelius Saftleven's Alchemist, possibly genre painting's earliest interpretation of the Bruegel print, relocatesthe wife to the fringes of the scene,away from the chymical arena. For discussionof this painting seeRussell-Corbett, 2004: 70-7 1. Cornelius Saftleven, The Alchemist, 1631, location unknown. Reproducedin Sotheby's London, 2002: 53.

59 chymical workshop. Born in Haarlem in 1650, Richard Brakenburgh was a genre,portrait 48 and history painter, in addition to being an engraver,draftsman and poet. Pupil of Hendrik Momniers, the artist is also reportedto have studied under the alchemicalpainters Jan Steen and Adriaen van Ostade. By 1670 Brakenburgh was living in Leeuwarden,where in 1671 he married. In 1687 he was registeredat the artists' Guild of St. Luke in Haarlem. Writing poetry, the artist joined Haarlem's Chambersof Rhetoric and composeda New Year's poem in 1697 for 'De Witte Angieren' [The White Carnations]. A moderatelysuccessful painter, Brakenburgh in his later careerfocused primarily on scenesof folk festivals and merriment in the mannerof his supposedmasters, Steen and van Ostade. He died in Haarlem in 1702.

Like van de Venne's work, Brakenburgh'sAlchemist's Workshop with Children Playing (Fig. 12) mocks the puffer. In this painting we can seea reworking of Bruegel's fractured family unit and a reinterpretationof the malelfernaledivergence. Although the workspaceis more professional,the inclusion of six children and a wretchedwife primarily suggeststhe collapse of the family. Within a dark and cluttered interior, a family drama unfolds. Scatteredabout the room are symbols signifying transience,vanity, greedand waste: an hourglass,mussel shells, the untidy floor, a balanceand snuffed candles. In the centre backgroundfive anonymousassistants work at a table while on the right another, possibly a child, pulls a lever behind the alchemist.49 To the right of the picture a chymist, surroundedby various distillations, labours at an open furnace. Unlike the chymists in the works of Bruegel and van de Venne,Brakenburgh's male is turned inwards towards the centre of the painting and his wife. Ilis wife, standingnext to him in the centre of the painting, looks down beseechingly into her husband'seyes, gesturing to the children playing on the floor. In the bottom left comer of the painting, four small children play amongthemselves. Reminiscentof both van de Venneand Bruegel, one of thesechildren carries a spoon,another points to an empty cupboard, while at the oppositeside of the painting a fifth child tugs at the skirts of his mother and a sixth, in the gloom, standsby her arm. Of the main group, one boy mimics his father by using bellows to fan the expensivecoals on which empty crucibles sit. The son, blinded by a drooping hat, is reminiscentof both the fool and the chymist in Bruegel's print. By replacing the fool with the chymist's son, Brakenburghnot only calls attention to the dangerous inheritanceof chrysopoeia,but also to the male susceptibility to the alchemicaldream. The mother, who is inextricably bound to her children, becomesa single female symbol for the family. Although, as in the earlier works, the two central charactersoccupy separatespaces,

48For a biographyof Brakenburghsee Thieme-Becker, 1996-97,4: 514. 49These figures have been taken from the worksof otherNetherlandish artists. Principeand DeWitt point out that "the figure in the red capwho holdsthe balanceis drawnfrom Brouwer'srepertoire, while the figure with the cone-shapedhat is takenfrom suchscenes by Steenas TwelfthNight andAs TheOld Sing,So TheYoung Twitter". Principeand DeWitt, 2002: 19.

60 the mother and father in Alchemist's Workshop with Children Playing are connectedby a glimpse, which holds, perhaps,a glimmer of hope.

The forlorn femaleis the key focus of this painting; in a murky workshop, she is the only characterof the fourteenin the room to be adequatelylit. 50 The light from an unseensource highlights the whitenessof her forearm and the arch of her elegantneck, as her grey collar and sleevesradiate in the light. The chymist's wife is a powerful yet delicatefigure, lacking the crudity of Bruegel's and van de Venne's women; sheis a pillar in an otherwiseshambolic roorn. Conceivably, she is the white woman of the chymical marriage, and in depicting the husband'srejection of his wife and family, the painting predicts chymical, as well as fanfilial, failure. While Brakenburgh's work remainsa satire, it doesnot contain the grotesque caricaturesof Bruegel or the exaggeratedfigures of van de Venne. Instead,Brakenburgh presentsthe viewer with naturalistic people. This is a lifelike mother, with shnilarly realistic husbandand children. The tragedy of the scene,the dissolution of the marriage and the starvation of the children, therefore,has greaterpoignancy than in Bruegel's Alchemist. Ironically, by moving away from single-faceted,emblematic and overtly didactic designs, Brakenburghpaints a more compelling picture of alchemical folly. Upsetting the equilibrium of the Christian marriage,Brakenburgh depicts the female not only as the protector of the children and the household,but as a potential redeemerof the male. Surroundedby suffering children, Brakenburgh's exaltedfemale is a tower of hope and virtue in a den of male immorality. While she retains the associationsof both Bruegel's and van de Venne's women, Brakenburgh's femaletranscends alchemical and emblematicsymbology to convey the real- life hardship and deprivation of the chymical family and the chymist's wife.

2.3 Jan Steen's The Last Coin and The Village Alchemist

The image of the distressedmother and starving children in alchemicalgenre painting was pioneeredin part by Jan Steen,whose alchemical work strongly influencedBrakenburgh. Bom in Leiden in 1626, Jan Steenwas the foremosthumorist of the Netherlandishgenre painters.51 Registeredat Leiden University in 1646, Steenby 1648 was closely involved with the establishmentof Leiden's Guild of St. Luke. Although little is known of his training, it is believedthat his mastersincluded the painters Nicolaes Kniipfer and Adriaen van Ostade. It

50Significantly, this female characterization, standing erect with her left hand raised to eyesas if weeping, echoesa 'weeping woman' fertility emblem of alchemical genre art discussedlater by this thesis. This motif, while alluding to pregnancy, denotesfemale distress and powerlessness.For more on this emblem seeChapter III: 119-29. 51On Jan Steen seeThieme-Becker, 1996-97,31: 509-15; Klock, 1998; Westermann, 1999; Gudlaugsson,1975; Kloek et al., 1996.

61 is feasible, therefore,that van Ostadeintroduced Steento the subject of the village alchemist. Producing over eight hundredpaintings of varying style and quality, Steenpainted subjects ranging from landscapesto religion. The best known of his work, however,are the emblem- basedcomical peasantscenes, in which the artist's moral perspectiveis often indicated by an instructive inscription. While Steen'swork often combinesthe comical with a moralistic perspective,his portrayals of the village alchemistlack the bawdy overtonesof much of his output. In thesepaintings, Steen'sstandard mood of frivolity is replacedby sobriety; his figures are less pantomimic and more naturalistic. Thesepaintings of the alchemistconvey the gravity and depravity of the chymical workshop. In both The Last Coin (Fig. 13)52and 53 54 The Village Alchemist (Fig. 14), Steenincorporates the icon of the wailing wife and child. Whereasmany artists employedthe image of the mother and children to suggestmale egocentricity and greed,Steen also usesthe family to indicate male aggression. Within the small rustic laboratory of The Last Coin the chymist sits at the furnace, and with his left hand 55 drops the household'slast coin into a crucible. Although his body facesto the right of the painting and into the worktop of the furnace, his head is turned round towards the left. His brow is furrowed and his narrowedeyes stare into those of his wife, echoingthe sharedgaze of Brakenburgh's couple. Standingnext to him, the woman holds one hand to her weeping and partially closedeyes, while the other hangsdown to her side where a fretful child clings to her dress.56 Like the wife in Brakenburgh's composition, the fernaleis the brightest feature of the room. While two men skulk in the darker comers of the room, the broad white collar of the wife illuminates her face and emphasizesthe curve of her saggingshoulders. The chymist gesturestowards the sacrificial coin as if to assertthe absoluteautonomy of his actions. The mother has no defenceagainst her husband'smomentous and destructiveact. Her face is bowed to the floor and she appealsto no one. Yet, the mother is not a figure of unconditional submission;while all other charactersseem to sit, she standsresolutely, like the wife and mother in the paintings of Brakenburghand van de Venne, and she protects her child, who

52Jan Steen, The Last Coin [or De Alchimist], 1665, StAdelschesKunstinstitut, Frankfurt. Oil on canvas,34 cm x 28.5 cm. Salesby auction: A. Sijdervelt, Amsterdam (23 April 1766), Holderness, London (6 March 1802), entered collection of Eduard Gustav May in 1842. 53Jan Steen, The Village Alchemist, early 1660s,Ile Wallace Collection, London P209. Oak panel, 41.7 cm x 29.8 cm x 0.4 cm. Signed upper right. Provenance:Hertford House inventory 1870; Dorchester House inventory 1842; with 3rd Marquess of Hertford by 1833; Christie's (25 April 1801); Charles Leviez, Langford (29 April 1762); probably Jan Jacobvan Mansvelt sale, Utrecht (8 April 1755). 54In addition, there exist at least two other paintings by Steen which feature the alchemist's wife. Jan Steen, The Alchemist, date unknown, Private Dutch Collection. Reproducedin Brinkman, 1982: 5 1. Jan Steen, 77zeAlchemist, 1668, Ca' d'Oro, Venice. Reproducedin Brinkman, 1982: 50. 55The Last Coin is replicated almost exactly by a later painting. Jan Steen, The Alchemist, 1688, location unknown (formerly in the collection of Earl of Crawford and Balcarras). Reproducedin Brinkman, 1982: 49. 56Again, the female figure with her left hand raised to her eyesrecalls the 'weeping woman' emblem discussedin Chapter 111:119-29. Ibis associationcompounds the atmosphereof despair.

62 hides behind her skirts, shieldedfrom the alchemist's glower. The male and female of this alchemicalequation are not so much independent,but rather destructive,oppositional forces, caught in the devastatingchrysopoeian vortex. Rijcke-Armoedeand Bruegel's Alchemist portray the chymist as self-absorbed,utterly consumedand seducedby the wild promisesof transmutationand almost unawareof the enormity of the possible consequences.Steen, however, depicts a chymist consciousand uncaring of the danger in which he placeshis family. This alchemistis a tyrant, cruel and domineering,far from the scrawny and feeble figures of many alchemicalpaintings.

Amalgamatedinto a single image,the mother and child are inextricably bound to evoke sorrow and pity. In anotherpainting by Steen,The Village Alchemist, the artist initially seems to presenta more sympatheticview of alchemy. In the centre foreground of a chymical workshop, an ample, elderly man with a bent back sits at a work surface stirring the contents of a ceramic pot, which sits atop coals. He faces slightly forward and towards the right of the painting. This amiable looking man wears a red physician's cap and a vibrant mustard work vest, under which is a tawny smock with blue detail. His white collar protrudesabove his vest and nestlesagainst his face. The crimson hat accentuatesthe rosy colour of the chymist's cheeksand nose. On his desk are signs of chyrnical endeavour:a small alembic, a pestle and mortar, a quill holder and a scrap of paper. To his right and in the background,two slightly exaggeratedand comical assistantspore over a large document. One of thesemen is impaired by his falling hat, which droops over his eyes:an indication of the puffer's lack of vision and understanding. In the background,behind the alchemistand to the left of the painting, a woman holds a baby to her partially bared breast. Her neck is strainedas her eyesand face are turned upwards to the ceiling. Although it is difficult to discern the items suspended above her, the main object which meetsher gaze appearsto be a deflatedbladder, an emblematicreminder of vanity and the futility of earthly ambitions.57 Her lips are parted and in her left hand sheholds a light-coloured cloth to her weepingeyes. The baby which she holds in her arms playfully reachesfor the scrap of cloth into which the mother cries, heighteningthe poignancy of the scene. There is little elsein the painting: a shelf on the wall, a coal bucket and further objects hanging from the ceiling. The unusual absenceof a detailed context in The Village Alchemist places special emphasison the charactersSteen presents.

It is the portrait of the chymist which is of particular significancein this painting. Steen's chyrnist is markedly sirifilar to thosedepicted by David Teniers the Younger. Son of painter David Teniers the Elder, David Teniers the Younger was baptized in Antwerp on 15

" For more on the emblematic use of the bladder seeSchama, 1991: 503.

63 December16 10.58 After serving an apprenticeshipwith his father, Teniers registeredwith the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1632-33 and in 1637 married Anna Bruegel, daughterof Jan Bruegel the Elder. In 1644 Teniers was electeddean of the Guild and in the sameyear joined the Chambersof Rhetoric. With an excellent relationship with Antwerp art dealers,Teniers was an exceptionally productive artist and the foremost producer of alchemicalgenre scenes. His work, which is wide-rangingboth in subject and quality, was highly prized acrossEurope and in 1651 Teniers was appointedcourt painter to Archduke Leopold William, Governor of the SouthernNetherlands. Moving to Brussels,Teniers was later court painter to Don John of Austria, who succeededthe Archduke in 1656. The artist worked for Don John until 1659, and died in 1690. Teniers is, by far, the most prolific and best-knownartist of the alchemical genre,with over three hundredpaintings dedicatedto the subject of chymistry.59 While the style and quality of his work is erratic, Teniers' moral perspectiveremained largely constant. His paintings are typically indulgent of alchemists,often portraying proficient and responsible men working within a controlled chymical context.60 His interiors, as exemplified by Alchemist Heating a Pot (Fig. 5), are orderly and neat, lacking the clutter and degeneration which usually characterizepaintings of Netherlandishworkshops. This particular interior also lacks the usual topoi signifying transience;there are no skulls, snuffed candlesor broken pottery to predict ruin. Teniers' chyrnist is characteristically attired in rich blue robes and cap with ermine trim, and by his side hangsa plump purse. This chyrnist and his workshop seem quiet, cautious and well-organized. The elderly man who leans over the furnace, with hoary beard, reddenednose, richly coloured clothes, studied concentrationand avuncular face is a recurring characterin Teniers' paintings. Although this archetypal figure was copied by generationsof alchemical artists, Teniers' chymist is incongruousin Steen'spainting. Steen's work tends to depict reckless,overindulgent revellers and lovers, the direct oppositeof Teniers' diligent worker. Yet Steen's village alchemistis Teniers' elderly, industrious chymist, with his rosy nose,snowy beard and benign expression,hunched over a chymical experiment.

Steen'schymist could be mistakenas an exercisein artistic imitation. However, the introduction of the mother and baby is key to a completeunderstanding of The Village

58 As Read succinctly notes "there were four David Teniers in direct succession,all of whom were painters" Read, 1947: 73. This thesis refers to David Teniers the Younger (1610-90), the secondand most celebratedof this seriesof painters. For more on the life and works of Teniers seeThieme- Becker, 199&97,32: 527-29. 59See Davidson, 1980: 38; Principe and DeWitt, 2002: 13. 60While most critics would agree with this statement(see, for example Davidson, 1980: 33,44), some interpret Teniers' paintings as condemnatory of alchemy (Klinge, 1999: 136). This chapter contends that most theories regarding Teniers' criticism of alchemy arise not from an analysis of his paintings, but from inherently unsound criticism of earlier years.

64 Alchemist. As Teniers only rarely featureswomen in his depictionsof the chyrnical workshop, Steen'sinclusion of the female in a Teniersesquecontext is striking. In the mannerof Brakenburghand van de Venne, Steenemploys the icon of the lamenting mother to describedomestic devastation, the impact of which is further amplified by the poignant portrayal of a nursing baby. Conforming to convention,Steen's matemal figure is set aside as a distinct emblem,detached from the main body of the picture. Whereasthe three male charactersare in close physical proximity, in a cosy huddle, the female and child are oustedto the edgeof the painting. As with van de Venne,the chymist is turned away from his wife, seeminglyunaware of his tormented,beleaguered family. Thus, The Village Alchemist incorporatesthe female and the family to prompt a dramatic shift in perspective,from the lenienceand non-judgementalism.of Teniers to the critical and moralistic slant of Steen.

In his many paintings on the subject,Teniers, unlike many early modem artists, neglectedthe devastatingconsequences of alchemyon the ordinary provincial family. By including a dominant referenceto a celebratedand much imitated Teniers character, The Village Alchemist subvertsthis tradition of gentleindulgence. By juxtaposing a stock characterfrom the brush of the sympatheticTeniers with a weeping mother and child, Steenmocks the blind optimism of both the recklessalchemist and the tolerant artist.

2.4

Intertextuality is inherentto the developmentof alchemicalart. The emblematic,illustrative imagesfound in books and manuscriptsaptly demonstratethe referential nature of alchemy. Hermaphrodites,eggs, ponds, kings, queens,snakes and peacocksrecur throughout the centuriesand throughout Europe, suggestinga universal code through which the secretsof alchemymight be uncovered. This variety of emblematicrepresentation often provides clues to alchemicalprocesses, ingredients, instruments and stagesand also frequently includes obscurereference to alchemicalphilosophies. The image of the distressedmother and self- interestedfather potentially operateswithin thesesame perimeters. Initiated by Bruegel, this seventeenth-centurypairing denotesa specific set of polar values. As the alchemicalmale representsthe sun and the female the moon, so too, the male denotesirresponsibility and the femaleresponsibility. Like Dutch emblemata,as the maternal symbol was applied and developedthroughout the years, it could promote specific responses,independent of its framework; shorthandfor over a century's worth of allusions.61

61This shorthandis further analysedby ChapterIll of this thesis,which examinesthe evolutionand eventualconsolidation of thesewailing womeninto stocksymbols of inherentfemale despair.

65 The complexity of this referencenetwork is revealedby The Village Alchemist, which incorporatesmultiple emblemsto moralizing effect. Steenhere demonstrateshow combining stock figures from recognizableworks enhancesthe didactic impact of his work. The seventeenthcentury, of course,was a time of great fluctuation and changein the Netherlands and this is reflected in alchemicalsymbology. Symbolic forms did not remain static, but were constantly shifting in line with new contexts and interpretations. Steen'spaintings demonstratehow original meaningwas retained,while new interpretationsand developments of the maternalimage were advanced.

The Old Hag, Gore Besjen!

3.0

As this survey has suggested,alchemical genre paintings of the seventeenthcentury operated within a known matrix of reference. Heerschop'simage of the mother cleaningher baby and van de Venne's use of the wailing woman and hungry children illustrate how specific emblemswere cultivated and employedby generationsof alchemicalartists. However, in an investigationof domesticdiscord, there are certain scenesand imageswhich occur less frequently in alchemicaliconography, and which fail to adhereto a certain pattern or tradition, yet have specific referenceto Netherlandishculture. This, the third and final section of this chapter, examinesthese distinct imagesand seeksto determinetheir meaningwithin the context of Netherlandishart and literature.

3.1 Trouble Comesto the Alchemist

A number of Netherlandishgenre paintings depict the iatrochemistin his workshop.62 These chymists, who usually followed the work of Paracelsus,believed that the primary businessof alchemywas medicinal, rather than chrysopoeian. Theseiatrochemical paintings often portray a consulting area, littered with the standardtopoi of vanitas and transience:the hourglass,a horse skull, a human skull and extinguishedcandles. Likewise, the inclusion of the globe, a quintessentiallyParacelsian prop, biological diagrams,phamiaceutical containers

62The iatrochemical workshop and its female occupantsare the subject of Chapter HI of this thesis. For comprehensivedefinitions and descriptions of iatrochemistry seeChapter IH: 108-11.

66 63 and powdersconfirms the spaceas chymical. Trouble Comesto the Alchemist (Fig. 15) by an unknown follower of the Dutch School is one such iatrochemicalpainting. 64 This scene depicts a uroscopy: the study of the patient's urine to determinea diagnosis. Although scenes of medical procedures,and uroscopiesin particular, are widespread,this is a very unusual composition. The beardedchymist sits at a low greentable, beneathwhich lies a small, sleepingdog. Although there are subtle signs of chyrnical activity, there is no furnace or distillation in this room. Instead,this appearsto be a consultation room. By an open door standsa woman, possibly the patient, dressedin brightly coloured clothes. She leansforward, with her handson her hips, as the iatrochemistholds what is probably a urinal of her waste. This figure is quite typical of chyrnical genrepaintings and, indeed,the image of the female patient is one which demandsits own independentstudy. 65 However, anotherfemale charactercommands attention. Above the alchemist,a stout, old woman leansout of a woodenhatch in the wall. Onto the balding pate of the man below, sheempties the contents of what appearsto be a chamberpot. As the urine rains onto the chymist below, he holds up his hand in a comically inadequatedefence.

3.Li The Old Hag

This image of the elderly woman is taken directly from a successionof seventeenth-century genreprints. The earliest of theseis by Hendrick Bary and was producedin the mid- I 650s (Fig. 16).66 Executedafter a lost painting by Frans van Mieris, Bary's print was, in turn, copied by artists such as Jan de Bisschop. The original engravingdepicts an elderly woman with a wrinkled face, dressedlike the characterin Trouble Comesto the Alchemist, with a white ruff and cap. She is a pantomimic figure, whoseappearance places her within an extensiveliterary and artistic tradition of repellent, mannishwomen, a caricature still 67 exploited today. Sheempties the pot in much the sameway as the female in the painting of the iatrochernist,looking down as the contentspour away. Beneaththe picture lies a verse:

63 Ile inclusion of the celestrial globe is often suggestive of iatrochemistry: Paracelsus constructed an entire cosmology with chymistry at its core. He viewed the world as a great distillation vessel and its changes as parallel to the operations carried out in the laboratory. The human body itself, as the 'microcosm', bore resemblances not only to the universe, the 'macrocosm', but to chemical processes also. This is one of the main reasons for the continual and prominent inclusion of the globe in so many Netherlandish depictions of the alchemist's workshop. 64Artist Unknown, Trouble Comes to the Alchemist, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.269. Oil on wood panel, 30 1/2" x 21 1/2". Provenance: Fisher Collection. Previously attributed to Pieter van Slingelandt. 65This image is considered at length in Chapter HL 66Hendrick Bary after Frans van Nfieris, Old Hag Print, mid- I 650s, Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Reproduced in de Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 337. 67For a discussionof "the disorderly woman" in European early modern culture seeDavis, 1975: 124- 51.

67 Hou! gore Besjen,hou! hebt gij uw' Eer verloren Dat gij uw' Vuylicheyt op Eerb're hoofden stort? Of tracht M, door dien Drek, ons d'ogen uyt te boren; Op dat uw' rimp'Iend Vel niet meer gezienen word?68

The verse,in part, refers to a commonoffence in Dutch cities. Practically every Dutch town had regulationsin place designedto improve the hygieneof residentialneighbourhoods. As such, the woman in the picture is flouting a by-law by dischargingher waste into the street. While proverbial basedgenre prints might have usedthe image as an illustration of unsanitary habits, the woman in Trouble Comesto the Alchemist throws her waste not into the street,but onto the 'honourablehead' of the alchemistbelow. Although the urine of Bary's old hag does not soil any unsuspectingheads, earlier prints were producedon that very theme. In their discussionof Bary's image,Eddy de Jongh and Ger Luijten trace its origin to a classical source.69 Popular prints of the seventeenthcentury, which probably servedas inspiration for van Mieris, depict the feud betweenSocrates and his shrewish wife Xanthippe in which she poured a jug of water or a pot of urine over her husband'sbead. This sceneappeared in emblembooks at least forty yearsprior to the production of Bary's print. In 1607, for example,Otto Vaenius presentsSocrates as the paradigm of 'Patience' in his Emblemata Horatiana, with an accompanyingverse:

Den goedenSocrates sachtsinnigh Sweeghstil als hem sijn wijf toeschoot Veel smadebjckewoorden vinnigh 7U En hem uyt spijt met pis begot.

Although this scenerejects the grotesquecharacterizations of later works it nonetheless relishesthe proverbial cantankerousnessof Socrates' wife. A close analysis of Trouble Comesto the Alchemist confirms this association:lying open on the table is a poem signed 'Socrates'. The verse alludesto the vengeanceof a scornedwife:

ick wist wel vrou ten is geen wonder

68Translation: "Stop! Dirty little old wife, stop! Have you lost your honour, / Stop! That you throw filth on honourable heads? / Or do you attempt, with this shit, to blind our eyes, / So that we no longer see your wrinkled skinT' 69For a discussion of this image see de Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 337-40. 70Otto Vaenius, Emblemata Horatiana (Antwerp, 1612): 152-53. Cited in de Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 340. Translation: 'Ile good mild-mannered Socrates / Fell silent when his wife scolded him / With many scornful words / And in a rage soaked him with piss. "

68 het reghenensou near dit gedonder.71

While theseverses and prints offer a more nuancedcultural context for Trouble Comesto the Alchemist, the painting reflects neither Vaenius' 'Patience' nor Bary's concernfor hygiene. Instead,above all, this is a comical scenewhich once again mocks the chymical obsession with urine and the pretensionsof the physician. Conducting a uroscopy while being covered with urine is probably less about domesticdisharmony and more about straightforward, scatologicalamusement. The inclusion of the recognizableemblem of the old hag increases the comic potential of Trouble Comesto the Alchemist, rather than its moralistic authority. Although the emblemof the old hag was adoptedby several genreprints to enhancetheir comedicquality, it was not implementedas an alchemical motif. However, as the following study shows,the old hag emblemdoes in fact carry a further significance.

3.2 David Teniers'Atchemist

Trouble Comesto the Alchemist usesthe internal woodenhatch to signal unwelcomefemale intrusion into a male space. This basic construct is typical of severalhundred chymical paintings, which exploit the hatch-doorto illustrate an infringement on the patriarchal workspace. David Teniers' Alchemist (Fig. 17) aptly demonstratesthe archetypalportrayal of the intruding head.72 In this scene,a studious chyrnist dressedin lavish fur-trimmed blue robesis seatedat a desk on which rest a globe, an hourglass,an open book and most significantly, a bulging purse. With his grey head bent, the chymist readsfrom a smaller volume which he holds in his hands. Although only two assistantsfeature in the background, this is a large, busy workshop, filled with bubbling distillations and furious chymical activity. In the top right of the picture, however,high towards the ceiling, a small white cappedhead peersthrough a woodenhatch. The face, which is seeminglyfemale, is gaunt, without detailedfeatures or expression. It is only the slightnessof the face and inclusion of the white cloth cap which unequivocally suggestfemininity. This is an intentionally significant area of the painting; a powerful diagonal createdby the stepsof the furnace and the crouching assistantcommandingly directs the viewer to the top right comer. With variations, this head appearsin countlessalchemical paintings; frequently the head is detailedand patently male,

71 Translation: "I knew well, woman, / It's no surprise, / That rain would / Follow this thunder." 72David Teniers, 7he Alchemist, c. 1645, Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Braunschweig. Reproduced in Davidson, 1980: Plate 25.

69 while sometimesthe headbelongs to a female.73 Occasionally,however, the face is non- descript, shroudedby a drooping hat or by the darknessof the laboratory. Although this hatch-way intrusion assumesnumerous forms, specifically female characterisationsdemand special attention. Femaleinfringement of male chymical spaceis rare and often occurs as part of a broader gendernarrative. Yet, while the appearanceof the female in this alchemical painting may refer to such subtexts,it more obviously alludes to a universal fear of deathand divine Judgernent.

An engravingby Francisius van der Steenafter a David Teniers painting showsa husbandand 74 wife counting their moneyin a small room (Fig. 18). The couple are elderly and surrounded by bags of coins and accountpapers. With their fur-trimmed robes, the couple are not dissimilar to Teniers' many representationsof alchemists. While the husbandholds a swollen bag of moneyon his lap, his wife usesa balanceto weigh somegold. Towards the top of the room is a small window, through which Death pokeshis head. Death, a grinning, skeletal being, holds aloft an hourglassto show the oblivious couple below that their tirne-has come. Below the picture, a passagereads:

STULTE HAC NOCTE ANIMAM TUAM REPETUANT A TE ET HAEC QUAE PARASTI CUIUS ERUNT: sic est qui sibi thesaurizat et non est in Deum dives. LUCAE )U. C75

The extract from the parable of the rich fool underscoresthe doom-ladenatmosphere of van der Steen'smoralistic composition. This is a portrait of avaricious folly, a warning to those obsessedwith earthly riches and a sentimentparticularly apt for an alchemicalsubject. 76 While it occurs only rarely in Netherlandishgenre painting, the personification of Death was a commonfeature of genreprints, especiallyin thosethat depict the weighing and counting of money. Typical of theseinstructive engravings,van der Steen's Couple Weighing Money

73For example, a head poking through a wooden hatch onto a chymical workshop occurs in several paintings belonging to the Chemical Heritage Foundation, including: David Teniers, Interior of a Laboratory with an Alchemist, 1690, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.23; Anonymous Teniers Follower, Alchemist %ith Book and Crucible, c. 1630, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.258; Anonymous Teniers Follower, An Alchemist's Laboratory, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.18. 74Francisius van der Steenafter David Teniers, Couple Weighing Money, c. 1655, Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Provenance:Collection P. C. Baron van Ixyden, Koninklijke Bibiolotheek, The Hague (Lugt 240) inv. RP-P-OB-59.901. Reproducedin de Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 291. Possibly after: David Teniers, Elderly Couple Weighing Money, Collection of Suzanneand Norman Hascoe. 75Translation: "T'hou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared,whose shall they be? So is he that layeth up treasurefor himself, and is not rich towards God. Luke, Chapter X1." 76Ger Luijten notes that scenesof Death surprising counting couples were often pastedto the lid of coin weight boxes in both the Northern and Southern Netherlands. De Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 293.

70 precisely illustrates the practice of representingDeath. His skeletalgrim reaper,who leans through an upper interior window, in the comer of the painting, exemplifiesthe customary compositionalarrangement for Death in early modem print-making. Other genreprints which employ this designinclude two different works by Jan van der Brugghen,both also entitled Couple Weighing Money (Figs. 19 and 20) and inspired by the sameTeniers painting.77 Although the original work by Teniers doesnot include the figure of the grim reaper or the biblical inscription, Eddy de Jongh writes:

There is no doubt that this commentaryreflects Teniers' intentionswith his painting. The by his brother Abraham, [ I himself print was published ... who was a painter of genrescenes, and it is perfectly possible that David was consultedover the text.78

It is likely, therefore,that both Teniers and the reading public were at least partially aware of the practice of featuring the protruding head of Death in scenesof avarice. It is plausible, then, that alchemicalgenre painters, reluctant to incorporate abstract characterizationsinto their work, usedinstead the head-through-die-hatchmotif as an expressionof external judgement. The hatch imagery, almost by proxy, invites the viewers to evaluatethe moral fabric of the sceneslaid out before them. As the figure of the grim reaperoccurs in prints exploring human greed,so the head-through-the-hatchmotif occurs in paintings condemning materialistic chrysopoeia. As such, the anonymoushead featured so prominently in alchemicalpaintings may comprisea further, if non-gendered,component of the great Netherlandishemblem code.

3.3

Including examplesof the incongruousfemale, Trouble Comesto the Alchemist and David Teniers' Alchemist reachbeyond the genderdynamics explored by Heerschop,van Ostade, Steen,van de Venneand Brakenburgh. Subscribing to genderstereotypes, Trouble Comesto the Alchemist undoubtedlyemploys the emblemof the old crone to increasethe visual merrimentof the composition. But, consideringthe wide recognition of the death-hatch motif, Trouble Comesto the Alchemist is more than just comic. While she is a comedic figure, the old woman, and her careful positioning within the canvas,portend disaster,adding an elementof folly to an otherwisefarcical scene. Similarly, the seeminglyfemale headin the works of Teniers and many other alchemicalartists may also be a representationof Death.

77Jan van der Brugghen after David Teniers, Couple Weighing Money, c. 1690, Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Paris. Mezzotint, 29.5 cm x 21.7 cm; Jan van der Brugghen after David Teniers, Couple Weighing Money, c. 1690, Stichting Atlas van Stolk, Rotterdam. Mezzotint, 26.7 cm x 19.3 cm. 78De Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 293.

71 All theseworks, and the womenthey depict, are groundedin proverb-basedemblem and genreprints. As Netherlandishgenre art values lifelikeness,works featuring single-faceted emblemssuch as the old hag are uncharacteristicof early modem alchemicalart. While they allude to the genreprints from which they borrow, Trouble Comesto the Alchemist and The Alchemist resist strict emblematicformat. Instead, they disguisetheir plunder,just as Heerschopand van Ostadehide the mother and baby emblem,deep within an everyday context. Thus, the emblematictradition of alchemicaliconography is maintainedwithin the fleshy characterizationof genrepaintings.

Ostensibly, Trouble Comesto the Alchemist and Teniers' Alchemist bear little relation to the sensitivedepictions of genderdynamics evident in the paintings by Brakenburghor Steen. However, while thesetwo works abandonthe motifs traditionally favoured by alchemical painters, they nonethelessmaintain conventionalthernes. Reflecting the genderpolarity in alchemical scenesfrom Bruegel onwards,both paintings portray the physical separationof the male and female. In both cases,the female is located within a distinct area, far removedfrom the bustle of male enterprise. Additionally, both paintings representviolent conflict between the male and the female; as the old hag splashesurine over her male counterpart,Teniers' female potentially heraldsDeath for the men toiling below. As with more orthodox alchemicalgenre paintings, this physical opposition suggestsa genderedconflict of ideology. Inevitably, then, despitetheir uniquenesswithin alchemical genreart, thesedistinctive charactersemerge as routine emblemsof femalejudgment. Representinga disruptive force in a masculineenvironment, the female charactersin Trouble Comesto the Alchemist and The Alchemist conform in many ways to those createdby Heerschop,van Ostade,Steen, van de Venneand Brakenburgh.

4 Conclusion

Seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genre painters were fixated by domestic discord and the position of the displacedfemale. Through complex referenceand allusion, the works of Heerschop,van Ostade,Steen, van de Venne and Brakenburghexplore the binary nature of the male and female within the context of the Christian marriage and the Netherlandishhousehold. Theseworks consistentlyshow that male rejection of the female producesturmoil and despair:babies howl, children go hungry and wives weepinto their soddenhandkerchiefs. They suggesta specifically male vulnerability to the grand promise of transmutation,which engendersavarice, egotism,recklessness and cruelty. In genrepainting, at least, the male chymist is consistentlyportrayed as the sole sourceof his own downfall,

72 leading his family into economicruin. In contrast, the female is depictedas protector of the young and defenderof the family purse. In a perversebastardization of alchemicalpolarities, the male and female of thesepaintings representan inclusive binary systemof values: as the male signifies recklessness,the female signifies caution; as the male representsegotism, the female selflessness.Similarly, as the male symbolizesirresponsibility, introversion, gullibility and dreaminess,the femaledenotes responsibility, extroversion,awareness and practicality. However, this representsan absolutecorruption of the chyrnical marriage: as the female is rejectedby the male, harmony is inevitably displacedby turmoil.

The application and developmentof the emblematicwomen explored in this study are fused inextricably to the alchemicaltradition of reiteration and symbolic reference. As medieval manuscript art replicatesthe Red King and White Queenin an expressionof the chymical marriage and method,genre artists of the seventeenthcentury employ the polarized mother and father to convey the folly of domestic-alchernicalpractice. The intertextuality of gender emblemsin alchemicalart is extensive,and is explored further in the following chapters. While this study has alluded to the borrowing of genderemblems within genrepaintings, prints and Emblemata,the practice originates from the gendersymbolism which underliesall Western alchernies. Symbolsof genderdo not simply ornamentgrey alchemicaltracts, but commandthe spiritual, social and scholarly life of the chymist, his workshop and his family.

Thesegenre paintings, therefore,do not simply reveal the turbulenceof a mismanaged household,but also allude to the importanceof the femalein the alchemicalequation. While male chastity lies at the philosophical core of traditional alchemy,contemporary accounts more often celebratethe chymist as a Christian man, whosesocial, familial and spiritual responsibilitiesare fulfilled through alchemy. Collectively, thesepaintings equatealchemical failure with the abandonmentof Christian and social values. The consentof God and the purity of the soul were not only essentialto the successof chymical experiments,but also intrinsic to daily life. A corrupt husbandand father could never, therefore,achieve the status of adept,but would insteaddescend into misery and poverty. Thesepaintings do not celebrateabstract ideologies,but allude to the wretchednesswhich confronts the ungodly, condemningthe sacrifice both of the family to the chrysopoeiandream, and of the Christian God to the enthralledworship of Mammon.

73 CHAPTER 11

PATER ET MA TERFAMILIAS: DOMESTIC QUIET IN PAINTINGS OF THE'CHYMICAL MARRIAGE'.

The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hadi carried it in its beHy,the earth its nourse.1

The perfect and hallowed union of polar oppositesis intrinsic to all ancient and modem alchemicalphilosophies. The red man and white woman, the King and Queen,Sol and Luna, the incestuousunion, the balanceof metals and elements,the esotericand the exoteric and eventhe interdependenceof the macrocosmand microcosmcontribute to an understandingof what is encompassinglytermed the 'chymical marriage'. This 'marriage' depictedthroughout alchemicalart essentiallydescribes chemical processesof the opus alchymicum, the cycle of separatio and conjunctio. However, as with most conceptsalchemical, the chymical marriage is an inextricably multivalent and ambiguousterm, whosecomplexity is conveyedthrough the improbable simplicity of emblematicart. In all alchemical traditions the chymical marriageis symbolizedby the unification of man and woman. Often portrayed by copulating lovers, the joining of handsand the HermaphroditeRebus, the iconographicalmarriage celebrates the reconciliation of two equal and oppositeforces, through which the PhilosophicalChild or Stoneis born.

Graphic representations of the Red King, White Queen and Philosophical Child promote a compelling portrait of an alchemical family. As key alchemical emblemata, the members of 2 this peculiar Idn have beensubject to extensiveresearch. Exhaustively documentedand widely embracedby the academicworld, thesestudies have engenderedin turn more specializedinvestigations into notions of genderand family in natural philosophy. Developinga well-establishedthread, M. E. Warlick of Denver University has pioneered researchinto imagesof women and domesticityin alchemicalemblematic manuscript art.3 However, her paper, 'The Domestic Alchemist', representsfirst stepsinto the vast and largely unchartedfield of domesticityin alchenidcalart. Surprisingly, representationsof domesticity have receivedrelatively little attention from serious scholarsand it is in the field of alchemicalgenre painting that this neglectis most acute. Femaleand familial constructsin

1Dobbs, 1988: 183-84. 2 See,for example, van Lennep, 1985; Roberts, 1994: 84-91. 3 Warlick, 1998. Warlick is currently working on a book in which she will develop the theme of her paper.

74 alchemical genreart have yet to be examinedin any depth, an oversight mademore surprising by the strong parallels betweenthe genderand family ideals proposedby alchemicaltradition and thoseheld by early modemNetherlandish society. Consideringthe recentcriticism directedtowards femaledomesticity in genreart and the mounting emblematicresearch on alchemicalart, it is clear that an exploration of the representationof genderideals in alchemicalgenre painting is overdue.

Sensible,then, of the critical milieu, this chapter exploresthe idealizeddepiction of gender, marriage and the family in alchemicalpaintings of the seventeenthcentury. The first chapter of this thesis examinesrepresentations of a purely exoteric endeavour:visions of shambolic, working laboratoriesreflecting a wholly practical aspectof the art. Books, in thesepaintings, are usually strewn about the workshop, bullishly discardedalong with the esoteric philosophieshidden within. By way of contrast, this chapter surveyspictures of alchemical perfection, in which societal,spiritual and chymical duality balanceto createan enduring aura of universal harmony. Male balancesfemale, theory balancespractice, private balances public, esotericbalances exoteric, sulphur balancesmercury, father balancesmother. Whereasscenes of domesticdiscord embodythe repulsion of polar opposites,these paintings of domesticharmony presentcompletion through opposition.

Thesepaintings, which this thesis conditionally terms 'genre scenesof the chyrnical marriage', are highly idiosyncratic within alchemicalart. They invariably depict the model Dutch household,an idyll of prosperity and Christian living. Thesescenes contain a male and female, husbandand wife, working independentlyof one anotheras microcosmiccogs in the efficient domesticengine of the macrocosmicRepublic. The father, usually positionedat a desk overflowing with manuscripts,pores studiously over heavy tomes,immersed in chymical treatises. Distillations and chemical apparatusbubble away unobtrusively in darkenedcomers. Occupying an entirely separatespace, the mother, sometimesaccompanied by a dutiful brood, sits engrossedin somemundane chore.

Principally focusing on the paintings of Thomas Wijck, this chapter is structured around the three most commonhousehold tasks undertakenby women in alchemicalpaintings: the preparation of food, needleworkand the teachingof children. While thesehousewifely activities conveyedspecific connotationsto a contemporaryviewer, their significanceto this thesis lies predominantlyin the artistic and theoreticalbalance they lend to the portrait of the scholarly alchemist.

75 With someconsiderable success, historians in recent years have madesustained efforts towards unmaskingthe Dutch homeand its inhabitants. Simon Schama'sEmbarrassment of Riches and Wayne Franits' Paragons of Virtue offer a comprehensivepicture of Dutch family 4 life in the GoldenAge, partly through an analysis of seventeenth-centurypaintings. Both thesestudies, and numerousothers besides, have recognizedthe risk of interpreting genre paintings as historically accurateportrayals of everyday life. It has beenshown that genre paintings, in the mannerof emblemata,often advancean imagined ideal to which the viewer may aspire, rather than depict the actual day-to-day living of citizens of the Republic.5 Equally detrimentalto the study of this area is the tendencyto read Netherlandishgenre paintings purely in terms of emblematicsymbolism. Franits advocatesa conciliatory approachto analysingimages of domesticity in genreart, which recognizesboth the importanceand limitations of what SvetlanaAlpers erroneouslydubs "emblematic interpretation'96 When domesticduties in Dutch . writing of the recurrenceof specific painting, Franits notesthat:

The selectivity of domesticimagery, or more precisely, the conventionsby which it is governed,bespeaks an intrinsic level of significance within the individual themes themselves.For not only artistic concerns,but more importantly, popular attitudes and ideasdictate the existenceand production of contemporaryimagery. Thus, meaningin Dutch paintings is not necessarilyconcealed from the viewer but is an essentialconstituent, intimately bound up with their rnimetic qualities.7

As such, this chapter doesnot aim to locate imagesof female domesticity and male scholarshipwithin the historical context of the seventeenth-centuryDutch householdand workplace. Nor, consideringthe researchalready investedin paintings of domesticvirtue, doesthis chapter seekto expoundthe moral connotationsand broad cultural associationsof specific householdtasks. Instead,this chapter exploresthemes of domesticity in relation to their chyrnical context and seeksto establishtheir role within the wider systemof alchemical symbology.

4 Schama, 1991; Franits, 1995. 5 SeeFranits, 1995: 1-17. 6 Alpers, 1983: 229. 7 Franits, 1995: 14.

76 The Chyinical Scholar

1.0

While Hendrick Heerschop,Adriaen van Ostade,Adriaen van de Venne and Jan Steenpay testamentto the folly of would-be chrysopoeians,the work of the Netherlandishartists Thomas Wijck and Gerrit Dou bearswitness to a very different chyrnical character. These artists celebratethe philosophicaland spiritual contemplationof the independentscholar, the studentof esotericchymistry. Their paintings of the chymical scholar portray the alchemist removedfrom the splutter of the spitting furnace, sitting in quiet meditation,surrounded by books and papers; the very antithesisof his van Ostadecounterpart. Gradually developedinto a distinctly formulaic vision of alchemicalendeavour, the image of the lone male student gainedmomentum through the seventeenthcentury, surviving in bastard form for a further two hundredyears. 8

The seventeenth-centuryrenderings of the chymical scholar in his study are part of an important and ancienticonographical tradition. 9 Although most historians locate its origin in the Renaissanceimages of St. Jerome,in essence,the image of the chymical scholar derives 10 from a much earlier source. The genesisof this themeHes in the portraits of classical authors, from which evolvedthe early medievalimages of quill-wielding evangelistsand illuminated portraits of writers. Thesein turn inspired the fourteenth-centuryItalian prints " and paintings of St. Jeromein his study. Thesecompositions, which typically feature a balding and beardedJerome alone at a desk, either reading or writing, flourished in Italy and 12 Northern Europe during the Renaissance. Throughout this period the St. Jerome composition servedas a malleablemodel for numerousother portraits; paintings of f6ted Renaissancefigures frequently locate their subject within similarly booldsh confines. By the mid-sixteenthcentury, however,such representationsof Jeromewere rare. Instead,from this

8 Nineteenth-century reinterpretations of this theme include Charles Meer Webb, The Searchfor the Alchemical Formula, 1858, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.32; Edward Allan Schmidt, The Chemist, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.246. 9 For the origin of the scholar in his study theme seeRice, 1988: 75-111. For a full examination of this iconography in RenaissanceItaly also seeThornton, 1997. 10See, for example, de Jongh, 1997: 330. 1171be earliest surviving example, a fresco by Tomaso da Modena in the church of S. Nicolb in Treviso, is believed to date from around 1360. 12Eugene F. Rice notes: "A north Italian master, perhapsAltichiero of Verona (d. c. 1385), had painted a famous portrait of Petrarch at work in his study, a fresco that becamethe model for several early representationsof Jerome. Other pagan, Jewish, and Christian authors - King David, the evangelists, Ovid, Seneca,Valerius Maximus, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Catherine - were shown similarly closeted." Rice, 1988: 106.

77 point onwardsprints and paintings of the scholar in his study becameincreasingly secularized.

During the seventeenthcentury, prints and paintings of the scholar in his study attained 13 significant popularity in the Netherlands. Sheddingreligious insignia, theseprints nonethelessretained the motifs of scholarship,books, hourglasses,inkwells, candlesand skulls, thus preservingthe sereneatmosphere of the Jeromestudy. In Mirror of Everyday Life, de Jongh and Ger Luijten considerthe range of meaningwithin theseearly modem prints, analysing the distinction betweenconunendable scholarship and degenerate melancholy. The melancholicstudent of alchemyis certainly evident in seventeenth-century Italian genrepainting. Executedby an anonymousItalian painter, An Alchemist in his Study (Fig. 21), for example,depicts a young man languishing in a dark, cluttered interior, crowded 14 with books, globes, alembicsand retorts. Caught in contemplation,his sad, young face is drawn to pleasuresof the outsideworld visible through a vast window. The painting is unambiguousin its condemnationof alchemy and even scholarly activity as a whole. The study is laden with tokens of deathand destruction:in the bottom right comer of the chamber a skeletonrests outstretchedon the floor, while a sarcophaguslies in the centre left of the scene. In a final, ominoustouch, a sinister white rabbit with one red eye peersfurtively at the viewer from behind the scholar's desk. This censoriouspainting condemnsalchemy and scholarshipin a dichotomousvision which setsdark against light, captivity against freedom, age against youth and deathagainst life. The sentimentunderpinning this painting is certainly concordantwith the prints of Melancholia examinedby de Jongh and Luijten. However, such associationsof alchemy and melancholyare rare in Netherlandishgenre painting, with Thomas Wijck and his many followers offering a quite different vision of the chymist in his study. In capturing the meditativeand pious atmosphereof St. Jeromeprints, Wijck's work illustrates a clear disparity betweenthe Italian and Netherlandishapproaches to portraying the alchemical scholar.

1.1 Thomas Wijck and the Chymical Scholar

ThomasWijck is an artist fundamentalto this thesis. VVhilehis work provides a basis for the greaterpart of this chapter,Wijck also furnishesChapter IV with much of the material for its discussionof the ostensiblefeniale chymist in genrepainting. Born in Beverwijck possibly in

13For more on theseprints seede Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 329-32. 14Roman School, The Alchemist in his Study, late seventeenthcentury, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.39. Oil on canvas, 19" x 25". Provenance:Eddleman Collection.

78 1616, Thomas WiJck was a painter who probably trained in Haarlem.15 Although little evidenceremains regarding his training, it is noteworthy that Wijck studiedin the studio of Adriaen van Ostade,whose alchemical work is examinedin Chapter I. Travelling extensively throughout his lifetime, it is likely that by 1640 WiJck was residing in Rome. Much of his work is clearly influencedby the Italian School both in subject and style, and includes scenes of both Rome and Naples. It appearsthat Wijck then returned to Haarlem, registeringat the Guild of St. Luke in 1642 and marrying two years later. His presencein Haarlem is recorded in 1658,1659,1669 and 1676 and it is believedthat he journeyed to London, with his painter son Jan, sometimebetween 1660 and 1668. He was buried in Haarlem on 19 August 1677. Towards the end of his careerWijck abandonedlandscapes and streetscenes in favour of more typical Dutch genresubjects, such as the alchemist's study. ThomasWijck's alchemical oeuvreis highly idiosyncratic but was instrumentalin the gradual standardizationof images of the chyrnical student. Generally,these specialized paintings betray the artist's powerful inclination towards the Italian School in technique,subject, style and palette.

His painting, 77zeAlchemist #1 (Fig. 22) is typical of both his work in generaland his specializedtheme of the alchemicalacademic. 16 From beyond a shadowyarch, the unseen viewer intrudes upon a spaceof balanceand quiet. Wearing the fur-trimmed robe of a scholar, a chymist sits at a large table, festoonedwith scrappy ephemera,books and the predictableparaphernalia of natural philosophy. Typical of Wijck's chymical scenes,the lone male is positionedby the window, his headbent and eyestrained on the written word of his tome. This is not a workshop, but a study. While this figure delvesinto chymical theory, a solitary furnace, edgingout of frame, gently heatsa single distillation. The room is strewn with scrapsof paper, resting on chemicaljars, littering the floor and falling off the desk. The light from the window catchesbrilliantly the broad white pagesof a book, propped open against a large, handsomeglobe. Through the elegantwindows, the vivid blue of the sky and the leafy greenof an overhangingbranch invite the viewer into the warmth of a Haarlem morning.

Primarily, this is a painting about harmony. The chaotic, discordant lines which dominatethe chrysopoeianlaboratory of Pieter Bruegel are usurpedby fluidity and balance. The single, flowing line of the envelopingarch embracesthe upper half of the canvas. This organic

15For further referenceson Thomas Wijck seeThieme-Becker, 1996-97,36: 324-25; Houbraken, 1718- 21,2: 16-17; Blankert, 1978; Steland, 1989: 215-47. 16Thomas Wijck, 7he Alchemist #I, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.05. Oil on panel, 18 1/2" x 15 1/2". Provenance:Eddleman Collection. Wijck's paintings entitled "Ilie Alchemist" have been numberedfor the sakeof clarity. As the painter dated his work only rarely, it is difficult to ascertain the chronology of his output.

79 curvature is echoedin the fall of the fabric suspendedfrom the roof, the strangelycurved doorway, the two elegantarched windows and in the dimensionsof the room itself. Together, the curved lines of the arch, floor, staircase,doorway and alcove form a distinct spiral, terminating at the centreof the composition. This coil unifies the otherwisedisparate aspects of the scene,providing a harmony absentin depictionsof the alchemist's unruly, conflicting workshop. Furthermore,the vertical wall, at which the spiral ends,divides the painting into two exactly equal halves,fortifying its symmetry. The artist places specialemphasis on both the core of the spiral and the vertical divide by juxtaposing the bright bisecting central line of the wall with the darkened,gloomy recesses.The balancewithin the painting reflects the equilibrium in the subject. Wijck depictsthe harmonioussynchronism of poles: practice and theory, private and public, light and dark, image and text, macrocosmand microcosm. In composition, style, tone, palette and subject, The Alchemist #1 is typical of countlessThomas Wijck paintings, reproducedtime and again with little variation. 17

Such paintings evokethe equilibrium that lies at the heart of both alchemicaland Netherlandishdomestic philosophy. VVWleThe Alchemist #1 illustrates esotericalchemy in its depiction of study, it also presentsa 'living' manifestationof alchemicalideology. The greed,haste and egocentricitywhich characterizethe alchemistsof van Ostade,Heerschop and Brakenburghare absentin the portrayal of the scholar. Instead,the chymist's workspace conveysChristian humility, patienceand duty, in addition to a strong Dutch work ethic. Capturing the spiritual and intellectual mood of esotericalchemy, Wijck's Alchemist #1 exactly embodiesthe artistic tradition of the chymical scholar. A quintessentiallymale arena, The Alchemist #1 reflects the individual masculineenterprise advocated by both Dutch moral handbooksand alchemicaltreatises.

Occasionally,however, these prescribed visions of quiet male solitude are compromisedby an incongruousfemale element. Chapter I of this thesis exposesthe female as an unwelcome force in a male sphere. Conversely,in genrepaintings of the chymical marriage, male enterpriseis not disturbed but complementedby the presenceof the female.18 As icons of domesticharmony, stock female charactersin genrepaintings of the chymical marriage compoundthe atmosphereof scholarly devotion through their signification of duty and virtue. Having outlined the tradition of the isolated scholar, the remainderof this chapter examines

17Examples of thesepaintings include Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist #2, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.0 1.261; Thomas Wijck, 7he Alchemist in his Studio, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.254; Thomas Wijck, The Scholar, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.03. 18The attendanceof the female assistanton such sceneswill be discussedat length in the fourth chapter of this study.

80 the insertion of the wife and motherinto the chymical sphere,opening with a discussionof the domesticcook.

The Cook

2.0

Often incorporatedinto scenesof domesticdocility, diligence and feminine virtue, the dutiful preparation of mealsis a commonmotif of Netherlandishgenre art. However, despitethe significanceof opus mulierum or 'women's work' for the Great Work and the inclusion of women in alchemicalemblemata, the figure of the female cook is unusual in paintings of the alchemist's workshop. While the final chapter of this thesis examinesthe female assistantin the chyrnical laboratory, the first part of this chapter identifies the mother-cookwithin the context of her own kitchen. Analysing a painting by Thomas Wijck, this sectionexplores the portrayal of womenpreparing meals. In addition, this section also addressesthe significance of 'child's play' within the context of alchemicalphilosophy and early modem Netherlandish culture. In particular, this analysisfocuses on the alignment of child's play with women's work within the painting and considersits alchemical significance.

2.1 Cookery and Opus Mulierum

As a prefaceto an analysis of Wijck's work, the definition and import of women's work within the context of the opus demandsclarification. The term opus mulierum commonly refers to the secondstage of the opus, solve et coagula, whereby the matter of the Stoneis cleansedand purified. Aligned in art and theory with domesticcooldng and laundering,these processesare specifically characterizedas women's work. While the socially genderednature of theseday-to-day householdpractices justifies an associationbetween the solve et coagula processand the feminine, alchen-fistsproposed alternative explanationsfor this gendered categorization. The work involved in this phaseof the opus was deemedboth too "sordid" and too "easy" for the male alchemist,thus renderingit women's work. 19 Within this context, the term 'women's work' is interchangeablewith 'child's play', a term which will be further examinedin relation to Wijck's painting.20

19Arthur Dee cites Attaman, in his Fasciculus chemicus, "And this Preparation, a first work he [Attaman] calleth a Sordid labour and adjudgesit not worthy a learned man, therefore not unfitly said to be the work of Women". Arthur Dee, Fasciculus chemicus (Paris, 1631): 38. Cited in Abraham, 2001: 220. 20See section 2.3 of the present chapter.

81 The alchemicalemblematic iconography of women's work is an increasinglypopular subject for presentday criticisM,21 with debatescentring predominantlyon imagery containedwithin the Splendor Solis and Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens.22 Maier's Emblem XXIII (Fig. 23), which depicts a pregnantwoman tending a Idtchen stove, is a primary sourcefor discussions of genderand alchemy.23 The motto and epigram which accompanythe emblemare quoted often by commentatorsof alchemicalsymbology:

Plumbohabito candido fac opusmulierum, hoc est,COQUE

Quisquis arms facili multurn praestarelabore, Saturni in faciern (quaenigra) spargenives: Et dabitur tibi matertesalbissima plumbi, Post quod, foemineumnil nisi restat opus. Turn coque,ceu mulier, quaecollocat ignibus ollas, 24 Fac sed ut propriis Truta liquescataquis.

The iconographicaland literary elementsof this emblemare analysedby M. E. Warlick in her chapter, 'The DomesticAlchemist: Women as Housewivesin Alchemical Emblems', a study of housewifely tasks in alchemicalemblems and the genderingof alchemicaloperations. Tracing the recurrenceof women's work in Atalanta Fugiens, she summarizesthe gender delineationat the core of emblematiciconography:

The genderedpolarity of alchemicalphilosophy and imagery is well known, with many substancesand operationsdivided into masculineor feminine spheres. Linking back to the classical polarization that men are dry and fiery and women moist and cool, Maier's text is filled with such observations.25

Writing within this framework, Warlick proceedsto equatewomen cooking, especiallyover pots and cauldrons,with the pervasivefemale principle inherent to all alchemicalprocesses, theoriesand philosophies. Significantly for this chapter, Warlick also identifies a special relationship in alcheinical art betweenwomen and the plant realrrL26While 'The Domestic

21For example, Archer, 1999: 5.v-5. ix; Warlick, 2002; Warlick, '1998. 22Trismosin, 1582 and Maier, 1618. 23Emblem XXH, Maier, 1618: 97. Engraved by Theodor de Bry. 24Maier, 1618: 97: 'Vhen you have the white lead, then do women's work, that is, cookl / All you who want to achieve much while doing little, / Should direct yourselvesto Satan's black face / And you will receive the whitest material of lead; / After this, nothing remains but women's work. / Next, cook, like a woman, who collects pots for the fire, / But take care that the fish dissolvesin its own water." 25Warlick, 1998: 30. 26Ile action of peeling vegetablesin Thomas Wijck's painting has a particular resonancefor this reason.

82 Alchemist' examinespreviously overlookedmanuscripts, the originality of Warlick's study lies in her discussionof womenin paintings of the alchemist's laboratory. Stopping short of transferring her interpretativetechnique of alchemical emblemsto genrepaintings, Warlick notes:

In the later paintings, the alchemistand his assistantsare often placed close to a fire or furnace in the foreground,while the woman of the householdis almost always relegatedto the side or backgroundwhere sheperforms activities appropriate to her 27 domesticplace, such as cooking or tending children.

This observationis grounded,presumably, in paintings by artists such as Teniers and his followers, which tend to feature womenonly amongsta predominantly male cast of characters. Appearing invariably in the far-off depthsof the painting, often breast-feeding, watching children or, more commonly,disappearing out of the door, thesewomen meld silently into the facelessmultitude of male assistants,friends and generalhangers-on. However, the marginalizedfemales of which Warlick writes occur, almost exclusively, in paintings of the chrysopoeianworkshop, rather than in paintings of alchemicalstudy. Wijck's mainly contemporaneouspaintings of the chymical scholar undermineWarlick's assumption that women are consistentlyrelegated to the margins of alchemical scenes. In contrast to the paintings of Teniers and his imitators, Wijck's Alchemist #3 (Fig. 24) draws especialattention 28 to women and women's work. In this painting it is the alchemist,a small figure in the backgroundwith his distillation pushedto the side, who plays a minor role to the leading lady.

2.2 The Alchemist and the Cook

Encapsulatingthe day-to-day reality of women's work, Wijck's Alchemist #3 recalls the glum-facedfeminine labour of Maier's emblem,while incorporating the quintessentiallymale sphereof intelligentsia. A dichotomousvision of the Dutch household,the painting also alludes,in the mannerof alchemicalemblemata, to the interdependencyof the male and female.

Head bent and eyeslowered, Wijck's ermine-trimmedand beretedchymist is an alchemical and academicparagon, working within the far depthsof the composition. His expressiontoo distant to read and charactertoo faint to judge, this colourless,featureless figure is defined

27Warlick, 1998: 27. 28Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist #3, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.06. Oil on panel, 19 5/8" x 15 1/2". Provenance:Eddleman Collection. For a discussionof this painting seePrincipe and DeWitt, 2002: 22-23.

83 purely by the robes of his trade and the contentsof his compact study. The large, splayed volume on his desk is turned invitingly towards the viewer. This alcove is a place of quiet learning and intellectual endeavour. Theory usurps practice, as the chyinical furnace, a rnere kitchen stove, is ousted,along with obligatory retort and alembic, to the very fringes of the scene. Preciousapparatus are relegatedto what is essentiallya kitchen counter. But this is a spaceruled by poise and a senseof belonging. Concentric arcs, which terminate, significantly, in a globe at the centreof the composition, create a prevailing air of fluidity and harmony. Compoundingthis aura, a powerful linear symmetry and reiteration lend the work structural balance.

Thus far, Wijck's Alchemist #3 might seemindistinguishable from the painting of the same namediscussed in the first sectionof this chapter. However, in this version the artist diverges from the standardmodel to producea distinctly unorthodox image. Perchedon a squat stool, a dour but youthful mother preparesvegetables, sharing a compositionalplane with her son. Dressedin subduedtones and a work apron, this matriarch is the epitomeof modestyand duty. In the middle of choppingvegetables, the mother glancesdistractedly to the oblivious daughter,who plays quietly on the floor nearby. This is the domesticsphere to which she fully belongsand of which sheis mistress. The dominant Corinthian column which cleaves the picture divides the work neatly into two distinct areas:the male and the female. As with both the Heerschopand van Ostadepaintings discussedin the openingchapter, the parental figures occupy different spaces,located in separaterooms with independentfighting. There is no interaction betweenthe lone male and the mother with children; as the man looks to his papers,the woman looks to her householdduties. Although they labour under the sameroof, the roles which the couple fulfil produce a senseof polarity: female-male,domestic-academic, private-public. Yet, this is a scenein which opposition engendersnot a senseof conflict, but rather one of familial contentment.

A balanceof Dutch affluence and Christian humility enforcesthis impressionof contentment. Although the kitchen table is laden with a pewter pitcher and large loaf, the turnips that Etter the flagstonedfloor emblematicallysuggest humility. 29 But it is the act of preparing vegetablesthat is chargedwith meaningin this context. De Jonghhas noted that artists have used depictionsof womenpeeling turnips or apples to portray diligence, and the inclusion of

29The connotations of the turnip in Dutch painting are discussedin Westermann, 2004: 102,109. Therein, she analysesGovert Flinck's Marcus Curius Dentatus Preferring Turnips to Gold, a painting producedfor the Amsterdam town hall. It is worth recounting here Vondel's poem displayed below the painting [Westermann's translation]: "Securely Rome may sleepin the burgomasters'care / As Marcus Curius paid the offered gold no heed / Contenting himself with simple turnip fare / Thus is the city built, by temperanceand loyal deed". Westermann, 2004: 99.

84 such imagery in Wijck's painting supports this reading.30 Franits describesGabriel Metsu's pendantsA WomanPeeling Apples and Woman with a Glass and Jug as illustrating "male convictions about proper and improper female roles and behaviour",31 while Franklin Robinson perceives them as "two entirely different personalities, even ways of life - the life 32 of pleasureand that of domesticity.9 The portrayal of the mother peelingturnips in The Alchemist #3 emphasizesthe polarization of the domesticand the intellectual in Dutch society, as well as the broaderalchemical principle of perfect opposition. As the chymist is the idealized scholar,channelling God's will and striving for metallurgical and inner perfection, so too is his wife an exemplarof Calvinist diligence, labouring towards the spiritual and societalbetterment of her family.

Key to this impressionof domesticbliss, and indeedto the successof the peeling motif, is the mimetic behaviour of the children. As the young son in Richard Brakenburgh'sAn Alchemist's Workshopwith Children Playing (Fig. 12) imitates the foolish actions of his puffer father, so too the children in Wijck's Alchemist #3 conscientiouslyemulate their parents. As Principe and DeWitt note, the "little daughterdiligently imitates the good 33 example of her mother with a pot and knife of her own7.9 The daughter's playful study of her mother's chores is depicted in countless genre paintings of the period, particularly in scenes of the fruit and vegetable peeler. Pieter de Hooch's A Woman Peeling Apples (Fig. 25) 34 epitomizes this sub-genre, portraying a mother peeling fruit, as her little girl looks on. ne genteel lady's luxurious attire is impaired by the presence of a no-nonsense apron. This worthy show of domestic labour sets a pedagogical example for the elegant daughter standing 35 dutifully by her mother's side. The sceneis characterizedby the domesticserenity peculiar to the themeof mother and daughterpreparing food. As a parallel reading of A Woman Peeling Apples and The Alchemist #3 suggests,this particular connotationof domesticvirtue transcendssocietal boundaries of age, class and wealth, embracingthe entire female sex under the banner of Womanly Duty.

30De Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 370. Seealso Franits, 1995: 91-92. 31Franits, 1995: 92. 32Robinson, 1974: 25. 33Principe and DeWitt, 2002: 23. 34Pieter de Hooch, A WomanPeeling Apples, c. 1663, The Wallace Collection, London P23. Oil on (relined) canvas, 67.1 cm x 54.7 cm. Provenance:Hertford House inventory 1870; Perier Sale, Christie's, 5 May 1848, by 4th Marquess of Hertford. The Wallace Collection catalogue statesthat this painting was "perhaps partly intended as an example of domestic virtue", Ingamells, 1992: 167. In this particular painting the virtuousnessis emphasizedby the child holding a piece of fruit, a symbol of a food moral upbringing. SeeFranits, 1995: 129. Writing of a similar painting by Maes, Schamaremarks that, "the preparation of food - peeling vegetableslike Maes' parsnips - could supply similar kinds of instruction in household virtue". Schama, 1991: 559.

85 Equally important to Wijck's sceneis his careful depiction of the alchemist's son. Obediently 1- delivering a vesselto his mother,the boy is not emasculatedby this fundamentallyfernale arena. Instead,wearing a cap and a worker's apron, and standingtall, the son performs his role as assistantto his parent. As the central characterin the composition,this slight figure representsthe future chymist.

2.3 Ludus Puerorum

The study of children in Netherlandishpainting has intensified over the past decade,with strides madetowards a better understandingof the fictionalized 'reality' of genreart. The genderdelineation that Wijck's painting ostensiblypromotes reflects a wider cultural belief, 36 and one which is inevitably expoundedwithin the pagesof Jacob Cats' Houwelyck. As Schamaremarks:

The frontispiece for Cats' Moeder is the perfect evocation of domesticharmony, with eachmember of the family contentin his or her allotted role. But equally obviously the parental role modelsare separatedby gender.

Both Franits and Schamaexplore genderdemarcation in the visual arts in their studiesof the Dutch family, with especialattention given to the depiction of children. Interestingly, the historians employ the samepoem 'Kinder-Spel' [Children's Play] through which to evaluate the Netherlandishattitude towards offspring. In 'Kinder-Spel', Cats exploresthe essential differencesbetween boys and girls:

Siet hoe de menschsijn eygenaert Oock inde Idnt-sheyt openbaert! Het nieysje speeltmet poppe-goet, Het knechtjetoont eenhooger moet; Het meysjedoet de wiege gaen, Het knechtjelaet den trommel slaen; Het meysjespeelt met kleyn beslach Dat tot de keuckendienen mach; Het knechtje rnet eenswacke lans 37 Na wijse van de rouwe mans.

" For an exposition on the unparalleled influence of this text on Dutch society seeFranits, 1995: 5-9. 37Cats, 1625: preface, sig. I iiii. Translation: "Look how human nature / Is betrayedeven in childhood! / The girl plays with dolls / The boy shows greater courage/ The girl rocks the cradle / 71beboy bangs the drum / The girl plays with batter / That will help her in the kitchen / The boy plays with a toy lance / Just like the grown-up men."

86 The binary characteristicsof children, as laid down by Cats, neatly encapsulateboth Dutch and alchemicalphilosophies of opposition. His litany of malelfemalecharacteristics is composednot to illuminate the peculiarities of the playground, but rather to elucidatethe universal polarities of "human nature'. Here in Wijck's Alchemist #3 is the personification of this philosophy. The domesticateddaughter and dutiful son perform the roles bestowedupon them by nature and encouragedby nurture. The understateddepiction of demarcatedgender roles from infanthood through to adulthoodlends Wijck's Alchemist #3 a powerful senseof innate order and stability. This is a home in which regimentedsocial genderingsubmits to a more subtle, but equally binaristic:system of domesticgovernment.

While the twin conceptsof nature and nurture describedby Wijck's painting are key to the efficacy of the internal householdand external society, the combinationhas a peculiarly alchemicalresonance. The Aristotelian premisethat "three things are neededto achieve learning: nature, teaching,and practice; but all will be fruitless unlesspractice follows nature and teaching" might equally be applied to the rearing of children as to the searchfor the Philosophers'Stone. 38 Jan A. Emmens,applied this summationof Aristotle to a triptych by Gerrit Dou, interpreting the tripartite family unit, mother, father and children, as the embodimentof ancientphilosophy. In the sameway, Wijck's painting usesthe model of the family to illustrate the prioritized componentsof alchemicaltheory: nature, teachingand practice. The importanceof nature to alchemical study was stressedin countlesstreatises, and is neatly illustrated by the early sixteenth-centurypainting by JehanPerr6al in which Nature advises"an aimlessly wanderingalchemisf', "You will never attain knowledgeof anything if 39 you comenot to my forge.* In emphasizingthe importanceof nature and nurture to the upbringing of children, Wijck enforcesthe samevalues in an alchemicalcontext, in which practice must exist alongsidetheory, learning alongsidenature, the esotericalongside the exoteric.

But the depiction of child's play, especiallywithin the context of women's work conveys connotationswhich transcenda pure Dutch genrecontext. Ludus puerorum [child's play] and opus mulierum [women's work] are frequently equatedin alchemicalphilosophy to describe the processof solve et coagula. While the terms have beentraced to the fourteenth-century 'Opus Mulierum et Ludus Puerorua, which was first published in De Alchimia Opuscula

38Ernmens, 1969: 30-40,34. Throughout the centuries alchemists interpreted and representedthe works of Aristotle in an alchemical context. Despite the centrality of Aristotle to the alchemical tradition, none of his works addressesalchemy in any form. 39Jehan Peffdal, Les remonstrancesde Nature a Valchimiste errant, 1516. Reproducedin Roob, 2001: 504.

87 Complura VeterumPhilosophorum in 1550ý0they occur in the earlier Turba Philosophorum, which probably datesfrom the twelfth century.41 Almost certainly originating from an Arabic or classical source,this text was instrumental in the formation of key alchemicalphilosophies. Widely broadcastby early modemtracts, the alliance of child's play and women's work is a fundamental,and potentially ancient,alchemical concept. Although referencesassociating women's work with child's play surface as late as the twentieth century, they are particularly commonin early modem texts. "Ars nostra est ludus puerorum cum labor mulierunf' [Our art is children's play with women's work] is reported to have appearedon the wall of John Dee's housein Praguein 1584.42Similarly, Artephius wrote of the secondstage of the alchemical process,"it is indeeda work so short and easy that it may as well be called a woman's work 943 Most famously, however, Splendor Solis depicts "Children and the play of childreif . the at Play" in Plate XX, in which a crowd of playing children are significantly accompaniedby a watchful woman.44 Wijck's neat and subtle amalgamationof thesetwin paradigms contributesfurther to the painting's prevailing air of harmony. Conveyingboth a domestic and esotericidealism, The Alchemist #3 diversely exploits the individual componentsof the family in illustration of familial perfection.

2.4

A signifier of domesticvirtue and maternalnurture, the motif of the mother and daughter peeling vegetablesoccurs time and again in art of the Golden Age. However, Wijck's Alchemist #3 is not a typical painting about domesticity, representinginstead an instalmentin an ever-expandingseries of chymical scholarly scenes. While it would be injudicious not to recognizethe overtonesof virtue imbued in the image of the mother preparing a meal, it would be equally remiss to not explore the possible alchemicalconnotations of the scene. As one of the most prolific painters of chymical arenas,it is unlikely that Wijck failed to recognizethe implication of cookery and women's work to alchemy. As such, Wijck's vision of an alchemist's Icitchenoffers an extraordinary and transmutationalcontribution to opus mulierum iconography. By combining the materrialcook with playful children, Wijck, perhapsunconsciously, invests in an ancienticonographical tradition at the heart of Western alchemy.

40Cyriacus, 1550, cited in Archer, 1999: 5.vi. 41Gratarolus, 1896. 42Casaubon, 1659: 212. 43Artephius, The Secret Book ofArtephius (1612; Largs, 1991): 32. Cited in Abraham, 2001: 220. 44The plate bearsthe inscription "wherefore is the Art compared to the play of children, who, when they play turn undermost that which before was uppermost". Trismosin, 1582: 39.

88 The Seamstress

3.0

The seamstress,in her many guises,was the emblemof choice for the many Dutch moralists keen to propagatethe myth of womanly perfection. The appurtenancesof sewing illustrate points of female virtue in countlessmoral handbooks,and the seamstressherself was a favourite subject for genreartists of the Golden Age. Extolling the virtues of female duty, Netherlandishgenre scenes swarm with icons of stitching, lace-making,spinning, embroidery and needlework. A wealth of researchin recentyears has analysedthe emblematicquality of domestictextile work with someinteresting conclusions. 45 While textile work has been recognizedas an erotic metaphor,its dominant symbolic power lay in its potent connotations of diligence,domesticity and prudence. Since establishedcriticism already provides a comprehensiveportrait of the symbolic powers of textile work in paintings, this sectionwill refer to, rather than develop,the discussionof the standardmotifs of sewing, spinning and lace-maldng. Instead4this secondpart examinesthis image of domesticity in terms of the balanceit affords paintings of the chymical marriage.

Unlike cooks and cookery, needleworkhas no alchemical significance,literary, ideological or iconographical. It is intriguing, then, that Wijck includes the image of the domestictextile worker in three distinctive alchemicalpaintings: An Alchemist in his Study with a Woman Making Lace (Fig. 26),46 The Alchemist #4 (Fig. 27)47and An Alchemist at Work with a 48 Mother by a Cradle (Fig. 28). Incorporating the motif of the scholar, thesepaintings depict the harmoniouschyrnical marriagein a vision of an alchemicaland domesticidyll.

3.1 The Art of Maldng Lace

Comprisedprimarily of autumnal hues,An Alchemist in his Study with a WomanMaking Lace is a tonally harmoniouspicture, constructedto convey a senseof balanceand symmetry.

45The researchin this area has been extensive. SeeFranits, 1995: 21-36,62,80,130-38,172,181; de Jongh and Luijten, 1997: 270-71; de Jongh, 2000: 33,36,87; Stone-Ferrier, 1985: 84-95. 46Thomas Wijck, An Alchemist in his Study Mth a WomanMaking Lace, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.208. Oil on panel, 18 1/4" x 15". Provenance:Fisher Collection; gift of Fisher Scientific International. 47Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist #4, date unknown, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam SK-A-489. Oil on r,anel, 43 cm x 37.5 cm. Signed. Provenance:Rijksmuseurn acquisition, 1870. 8 Thomas Wijck, An Alchemist at Work %ith a Mother by a Cradle, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.35. Oil on panel, 47 cm x 31 cm. Provenance:Eddleman Collection.

89 Surroundedby books andjars and scraps of paper, the archetypal Wijck scholar is perched predictably at a raised and cluttereddesk next to the only windows in the room. He is set, in dark ermine and cloth cap, in the mid-ground, disappearinginto the black curtain behind and the depthsof the chambersbeyond. The detailed patterning of the intricate windowpanesis particularly finely executed,placing special emphasison the juxtaposition of the internal and the external, the private and the public. In contrast to this scholar, a woman sits comfortably and distinctly betweenthe mid and foregrounds,in the lower right-hand comer of the painting. Leaning her elbow on the broad lace-makernestled in her lap, the woman's headis propped up by a supporting hand,her other hand busy with the art of lace-making. Her face, half caught in light, is bent studiously towards this meticulous, painstakingwork. The arresting white of her cap, collar and sleeveselevates her otherwise sombreclothing. An incongruousfigure, this domesticicon refusesto fade into the background.

The arch at the top of the painting, as in Wijck's other works, createsa senseof the viewers' intrusion onto a private world; we spy on its oblivious inhabitants. This private arenais lent a powerful senseof scaleand depthby the steadylineal progressionof horizontal rafters. The curtain and a seriesof parallel lines, specifically in the desk, curtain rail, counter-top and the far off mantel reinforce this impressionof depth. At the innermostcore of the scenelies unknown darkness. This clever constructioncreates a sensenot simply of a room or even a house,but of an unexploredworld, a realm to which the viewer doesnot belong. As with Wijck's other portraits of alchemicalscholarship, the practical, chrysopoeianelement of this arenais forced to one side. In the murky left foreground, a furnace fuels at least one distillation process;unusually, a framed portrait painting is set prominently behind the distillation. ViNle the subject of the portrait is unclear, it suggeststhat the alchemisthas wealth enoughto commissionhis own picture.

As precedentdictated, the male and feniale charactersin the sceneoccupy entirely separate spaces. Completelyremoved from one another,they are both utterly absorbedin their individual gender-basedduties: chyniistry and lace-maldng. With headsinclined downwards, both figures are turned, not towards eachother, but towards the unnoticedviewer. Yet despite their seemingisolation, there is a peculiar antithetical dynamismin their relationship. The hunchedphysical form of the chymist is mirrored exactly in the shapeof his wife. Both are seated,with headsinclined in concentration,the shapeof their clothing, specifically with the collar and cap, is also identical. As the male is cast in darkness,his wife is swathedin hght. Sincethe chymist is locatedbeside the window, this lighting is clearly intentional. These protagonistsare subtle reinventionsof each other. In a quintessentiaByDutch fashion, the couple paradoxically comprisea simultaneouslyidealized and pragmatic portrait of husband

90 and wife. Theseseemingly independent characterizations are, ironically, the personification of marital interdependency.Enveloped by the protective arch at the top of the canvas,the spousesplay supporting roles to eachother within an encompassingspace. Working on entirely separatetasks, the couple operatediametrically within the samesphere towards a sharedambition, that is the prosperity,joy and virtue of the Dutch home. And indeed,this is a prosperoushome; the ornate window panes,the portraiture adorning the wall and the generousdimensions of the room all indicate that this is a householdof someconsiderable income. This is not the homeof an untrained puffer, but rather the surroundingsof a thriving adept. As the financial security is implied in the industrious figure of the father, the stability and domesticsuccess of the householdis implied in the quiet lace-maker.

Caspar Netscher's The Lace-Maker (Fig. 29) has beenused time and again to illustrate the emblematicquality of lace-maldngin Dutch genreart. 49 Executedin 1662, this Dutch painting featuresa young, married woman making lace in a Dutch interior. In his analysis of this painting, Franits notes:

Her activity of lace-makingalso indicates, if not celebrates,her industriousnessand virtue. The woman is completelyabsorbed in this task, as her intenselyfocussed gaze suggests. Sheis also turned at a slight angle toward the wall, a position that effectively eliminatesany interaction betweensubject and viewer. Pose,expression, and attire combinehere to offer a compelling construction of ideal femininity and domesticity.50

While this is an accuratepr6cis of this specific painting, art historians in their persistent adherenceto Netscher's representationof lace-maldngtend not to mention the genericquality of this work. While the woman in this painting is unusually turned towards the wall, her solitary positioning is indicative of a much wider trend in genreart, also evident in An Alchemist in his Study with a WomanMaking Lace. In order to accentuatethe senseof virtuous industry, lace-makersin genrepaintings are almost invariably depictedwith their eyeson their work, away from thoseof the viewers and other charactersin the frame.51 Lace- making women are often portrayed in quiet, empty rooms, away from the family and the

49Caspar Netscher, The Lace-Maker, 1662, The Wallace Collection, London P237. Oil on (relined) canvas,33 cm x 27 cm. Signed: C, Netscher 1662. Provenance:Hertford House inventory, 1870; Dorchester House inventory 1842; 3rd Marquess of Hertford, 1804; Diederick van Leyden, Amsterdam; probably P.C. van Leyden, 1780; Johan Pompe van Meerdervoort; possibly Jacob Vallensis, Delft inventory 1725. For discussionsof this painting seeWestermann, 2004: 125; Franits, 1995: 76-80; Franits, 2004: 108-09; de Jongh, 2000: 194-96. 50Franits, 1995: 76. 51Paintings in which lace-makerseyes are not on their work usually serve as lessonsin the dangers of distraction and fickleness. See,for example, Pieter van Slingelandt, WomanOffering a Cockerel, 1672, Dresden, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen,Gemaldegalerie.

91 bustle of the household;when closetedwith others, lace-makersstubbornly ignore their company. Remarkably, this conventionis even maintainedin depictionsof womenteaching lace-makingto children.52 Furthermore,Franits observesthat "the young woman in Netscher's painting wears sober,simple clothing of a type that would have met the approval of any moralise'.53 Although Netscher'scolourful character doesnot necessarilyreflect such sobriety, the statementaccurately describes the lace-makerstypical of genrepainting. Wijck's lace-makeris an archetypalmotif of genrepainting; she is drably dressedin monochrome,self-contained and focusedonly on her lace. Incorporatedinto countlessgenre paintings to convey an idealizeddomestic vision, the lace-makerwithin the context of An Alchemist in his Study with a WomanMaking Lace personifiesthe order and industry intrinsic to the successof both the Dutch home and the alchemical sphere.

As the lace-makeris most often portrayed as the sole subject of the painting, within her own space,An Alchemist in his Study with a Woman Making Lace is particularly interesting. As van Ostadeand Heerschopemploy the emblemof the mother cleaning her baby to suggestthe immorality and futility of the puffer's dedicationto transmutation, so Wijck exploits the emblemof the lace-makerto enhancethe atmosphereof tranquillity and virtue in the study of a true adept. Appearing in numerousemblem books, including Jacob Cats' Houwelyck (Fig. 30), the lace-makerwas a widely recognizedsymbol in seventeenth-centuryiconography. 54 Specifically a symbol of diligenceand dedication,the lace-makeris more generally a sign of domestic,feminine and, of course,Christian virtue. Within the environs of the chymical workshop, theseconnotations have special resonance. Alchemical treatisesthroughout the centuriesemphasized the importanceof faith, commitmentand industry in the working and spiritual fife of the adept. An inexpressiblycomplex, intricate and finely balancedprocess, the magnumopus demandedthe absolutespiritual and temporal devotion of the alchemist. Within this context, lace-makingiconography provides a visual manifestationof the diligence and dedicationnecessary for the realization of the elixir.

In addition, the inclusion of the dutiful and obedientwife representedthe Christian partnershipwhich contemporaryphilosophy proposedshould form the foundation of alchemicalpursuits. 55 This principle of marital partnership sharedthe sameideological basis as that which promotedscholarship and meditation over the frenzied, greed-driven

52See, for example, Quiringh van Brekelenkam, Woman Teaching Girls to Make Lace, 1654, Richard Green Galleries, London. Oil on panel, 73.6 cm x 86.3 cm. 53Franits, 1995: 76. 54Design after Adriaen van de Venne, Maeghde-Wapen[Maiden's Coat of Arms], engraving for Cats, 1625, frontispiece illustration. 55For more on the adept and the Christian marriage seeHarkness, 1997: 247-62.

92 experimentationof puffers. Through the inclusion of the lace-maker,a stock topos,of genre painting, Wijck enhancesthe tranquillity and stability of a scenealready instilled with a powerful senseof abnegationand dedication. Although the lace-makerhas no direct alchemical significance,Wijck's scholarly arenaenjoys a widely recognizedsign of endorsementthrough the presenceof the quiet textile worker. Furthermore,providing a genderedcounterweight to an otherwisehighly masculinizedarena, this emblemof femininity evokesa vision of a profoundly balancedalchemical world.

3.2 The Rijksmuseum Alchemist

In a secondpainting by ThomasWijck an alchemist's wife is pictured towards the back of her husband's study. Held by the Rijksmuseum,The Alchemist #4 (Fig. 27) survives in excellent condition, affording unparalleledinsight into the techniqueand style of the Haarlem painter. Tonally harmonious,the painting is executedwith meticulousdetail from a primarily ochre palette. In this highly orthodox composition,the scholarly alchemistis locatedtowards the left of the frame, at an elevateddesk beside Wijck's idiosyncratic latticed window. Dockedin the ermine-linedrobes and black flaccid beret of his profession,he lightly plies a quill. Surroundedby the usual signifiers of the study, this is clearly anotherof Wijck's alchemical theoreticians,who valueshis library of books over the various alembicswhich hang tidily on the surroundingwalls. The scholar,however, is not alone, sharing companywith his small family. Bearing a copper bowl and with apron tied about his middle, the eldestson interrupts the alchemistin his study. Momentarily disrupted,the father looks down to his young assistantwho attentively awaits instruction. Engagingintimately eye to eye, thesecharacters are the most detailedcomponents of the painting. The exceptionaldetail of their faces, in particular, placesspecial emphasison the father-sonrelationship. The light which floods through the nearby window catchesthe foreheadof the little boy and also the white of his eye, a detail which enhancesthe impressionof wide-eyedinnocence. The pink flush of his cheeks and bps further accentuatesthe fresh vigour of the boy's youth. Standingtau, patiently bidding his father's wishes,the boy is a model of childhood virtue. As The Alchemist #3 portrays instructive child's play, The Alchemist #4 depicts the graduationof boy to apprentice, as he advancesfrom the female domesticarena to the masculineworkplace. The son abandonsthe maternalprotection of the background,coming to the fore alongsidehis father. Still relegatedto the back quartersof the room, a smaller child crouchesat a basket besidethe mother, his face hidden from the viewer. This maternal,domestic region is separatefrom the masculinestudy. Although the charactersall occupy the sameroom, there is distinct segregationbetween the male and the female zones,with no reconciling dialogue. Removed from her husbandand the fight of the window, the alchemist's wife sits quietly in the back

93 quarters, diligently stitching white fabric. A picture of feminine modesty,she is dressed discreetly in a dark tunic, with the predictablewhite collar and white cap. Yet despitetheir segregation,the husbandand wife again profess an intimate marital bond. An echo of her marital counterpart,the wife is also momentarily disrupted in her toil; her gazefalls, like her 56 husband's, downwardsand to the right, towards someout of frame distraction. The woman's handsalso mimic thoseof her husband,clutching an invisible needlein her right and the cloth in her left. The similarity with which the spouseshandle the tokens of their trade alludesto a shareddiligence and unconscioussynchronicity. As in An Alchemist in his Study with a WomanMaking Lace, the husbandand wife in the RjjksmuseumýsAlchemist comprisephysically separateand isolated entities and yet representsubtle reinventionsof one another. Paragonsof their respectivespheres, the couple embody perfectly the exemplarsof seventeenth-centurymoral handbooks.

The wife's occupationof sewinghad special significance to the early modernspectator. Besidesproficiency in cooking, cleaning and childcare, the seventeenth-centurywife required basic needleworkskills in order to tend the precious garmentsof the family wardrobe. The necessityof needleworkto the roles of mother and wife is elucidatedin innumerable seventeenth-centurytexts directedat the bettermentof young maidens,their mothersand even their grandmothers:

[ ] de Dochters leeren dat huyshoudenbehoort ... moetensy wat tot hoe sy in aller ootmoedigheydhare mannen(als God haer tot het houwelyck roept) sullen onderclanighsyn en life hebben hoe sy met de kinderenmoeten ommegaen hoe sy haer huysgesinmoeten regeeren wat het sy van kopen van naeyen spinnen hoe sy reyn en vlytigh moetensyn en diesgelyckedinghen die tot vrouwen berop behooren.57

56The conventions governing the very specific emblem of the lace-maker are not sharedby the more familiar image of the needle-worker. Therefore, while diverted lace-makersmay illustrate the dangers of distraction, the same is not usually true of generic needle-workers. 571 de Swaef, De geestelyckequeeckerye van dejonge planten des Heeren (1621; Middelburg 1740): 312. Cited in Franits, 1995: 205. Translation: "Daughters must be taught to keep house,/ How to behavein a humble way - despite their arrogance- with their husbands(when God calls them to marriage), / How to love, / How to deal with children, / How to rule her household,/ How to do shopping, / How to sew, / How to spin, / How to be clean and industrious, / And all those things that are part of a woman's job. "

94 This extract is typical in its prioritization of needleworkin the litany of domesticduties demandedof housewivesand potential brides by moral handbooks. Like countlessothers, this text is levelledprimarily at maidens,to whom needlework"was crucial for their future offices as housewives".58

Yet, the Rijksmuseum'sAlchemist exploits more than the everyday familiarity of needlework. Needlework,in all guisesand within all types of Netherlandishpainting, is potentially chargedwith emblematicmeaning. Wayne Franits' definitive study, Paragons of Virtue, examinesnumerous examples of literature and painting which utilize the metaphorof needleworkto expoundfeminine virtues. He observesthat "the connectionbetween needleworkand the virtue of diligencewas stressedat every possibleoccasion! ', and further summarizes,"needlework, as we have seenrepeatedly, conveys a gamut of praiseworthy 59 associations,among them virtue, diligence,housewifery". As his work clearly implies, the image of the housewifely seamstressembodies the quintessenceof female virtue and duty. In view of its context, therefore,the needleworkmotif of the Rijksmuseum'sAlchemist confirms the painting's overall senseof genderand domesticharmony.

3.3 An AlchemistAt Work With A Mother By A Cradle

An Alchemist at Work with a Mother by a Cradle is the third of Wijck's paintings to incorporatethe seamstressinto an alchemicalgenre scene. An addition to his chyn*al scholar series,this painting deviatesfrom Wijck's standardcompositional form. Blanketed with tonally similar browns, blue-greysand ochres,the painting on first viewing delivers a senseof uniform composure. This chromatic homogenylends the scenean atmosphereof mundane,daily life, a mood compoundedby the lifelike gloom createdby the room's insufficient natural light. Although the painting depicts a familiar setting in the alchemist's domesticworkshop and a recognizablecharacter in the chyrnical scholar, the compositional elementsare arrangedin a surprising fashion. Within a voluminous room, beneaththe stock sweepingarch, four figures are frozen in a glimpse of their everydaylives. Mother and baby, father and son are pictured, not simply in their workplace, but in their home.

Embracing convention,Wijck effectively segregatesthe family into two separategendered scenes. However, subvertingexpectation, the chymist is unusually locatedin the lower right comer of the panel, unequivocally positionedin the foreground. He is dressedtypically, in a black cap and fur-trimmed robe, with a white collar providing definition to a beardedface.

58Franits, 1995: 25. 59Franits, 1995: 17,80.

95 This chymist is undoubtedlya scholar; the presenceof the desk, globe and scrappy ephemera, combinedwith the lack of furnace, assertsthe theoretical over the practical, the esotericover the exoteric. However, while the chymist is seatedat a desk in keepingwith all Wijck's alchemists,his headdoes not incline to quiet study. Rather, the sharp eyesof the alchemist alight upon a young, oblivious assistant,who pours a quantity of black liquid from a large glass vesselinto an impressivelysized mortar. The keenly observedhelper, who is little more than a boy, is probably the alchemist's son. Clad in coarsework clothing, the short, stocky figure is hunchedin labour, and his expressionbetrays marked concentration. Amidst earthenwarepots, chemicaljars, and distilling vessels,the homochromaticyouth melds sean-desslyinto his chymical environment.

In contrast to this vision of male industry sits a woman with customary white cloth cap and collar. Located at the back of the workshop and in the backgroundof the painting, the alchemist's wife sewssilently next to a baby's crib. In the mannerof Heerschopand van Ostade,WiJck again utilizes independentlighting to distinguish this sceneas physically, as well as psychologically,distinct. This practice, which recurs throughout Wijck's alchemical work, succeedsin establishingoppositional male and female, scholasticand domesticzones, while encouragingan emblematicinterpretation of the arrangement. The wife occupiesthe left margin of the painting, removedfrom, and in opposition to, her husbandwho is forced towards the right. The sunlight, which streamsdramatically through the two partially veiled back windows, irradiates this lonely figure, catching the top of her cap, face and left shoulder. Despite the flood of light, her facial featuresremain indistinguishable,with only a vague impressionof lowered eyelids and pale complexion. The woman's headis tilted towards her lap, in which rests a swatheof white fabric that is worked diligently with a busy needle. Besidethis ideal of quiet domesticity standsa robust hoodedcradle, which bears a sleeping baby. Although the cradle is locateddeep within the frame, its occupantremains discernible. With eyesshut, a sleepyface is turned towards its mother.

This, then, is a painting of an alchemist's family: mother, father, son and baby. Yet this work is distinctly uncharacteristicof Wijck's alchemicalpaintings. The most significant departure is the structural imbalanceof the composition. All four charactersoccupy the lower third of the painting, with the remainingcanvas depicting empty, dull walls and ceilings. This is a highly unorthodox arrangementfor Wijck; when his ceilings remain unadornedthey are usually enlivenedeither by dramatic shadowsor by stark colour variation. Forcing all four charactersinto the lower third of the scenecreates an impressionof over-populationwhich consequentlyprecludes the possibility of solitary scholarly meditation. This senseof congestionis magnified by an uncharacteristiclack of natural light; a rarity in Wijck's work,

96 murkinessand gloom besetthis family with unprecedentedforce. Thesedepartures from the standardWijck model have a single accumulativeeffect. The animatedcharacterizations of family members,combined with the clutter and lack of dramatic fighting, instil a senseof the everyday. With a specialemphasis on the family grouping and sharedwork environments, this painting presentsan alternativealchemical vision to the staple depictionsof almost hagiographicalmeditation. This work, then, representsWijck's artistic divergencefrom the idealistic to the ordinary, reducingthe alchemicalparagon to a plain, working man. This unernbellishedportrait of the alchemistas scholar, father and husbandis enhancedby the inclusion of his wife, whosepresence acts as a powerful reinforcementto the mood of normality. Pertainingto the lives of women throughout the Netherlands,the alchemist's wife is portrayed besidea cradle and engagedwith needlework. Yet while this alignment is peculiarly resonantof seventeenth-centurylife, its symbolic quality transcendsits humble milieu.

Wijck's depiction of the seamstressrepresents a common refinementof the needlework emblem This arrangementof seamstressand cradle representsan independentcomposite icon with its own connotations. One of the many contemporarypaintings to assimilatethis is Gerrit Dou's YoungMother (Fig. 31).60 Widely celebratedfor its skilful illustration of female 61 virtue, The YoungMother presentsan affluent Dutch housewife sewing next to a cradle. The painting is teemingwith stock symbols of feminine virtue derived directly from the leavesof emblemata:the pristine cabbagerepresents moral purity, the redundantlantern and discardedshoe suggest a dutiful attachmentto the home,the birdcage and broom symbolize domesticity,the decorativecherub implies, in this case,marital bliss, while the fish here intimates virtue. The emblematiccomponents of this painting are exhaustiveand collectively produce a compelling portrait of feminine virtue. The central motif, that is the seamstressand cradle, servesas the embodimentof all theseperipheral signifiers and forms the foundation to a sceneoccupied entirely by domesticvirtue. The strength of this image emanatesfrom its hybrid nature: by combining the emblematicseamstress with the emblematicmother, Dou createsa symbol of unique power. Like the seamstress,the mother and cradle occur in countlessscenes of everydaylife to convey a senseof domesticand familial harmony. Key to materrialiconography, the cradle is frequently fused with other symbols to fortify a painting's senseof feminine virtue. Often depictedin conjunction with the breastfeedingmother, the cradle also regularly featureswith the imagesof women peeling fruit and vegetables

60Gerrit Dou, 7he YoungMother, 1658, Royal Cabinet of Paintings, Mauritshuis, The Hague. Oil on panel, 73.5 cm x 55.5 cm.(arched top). Signed: GDov 1658. Provenance:Mauritshuis, 1821; King William I, The Hague 1815; Louvre, Paris 1795-1815; William V, Ile Hague, 1763-95. 61Literature on this painting is extensive and includes Slive, 1995: 102; Surnowski, 1994: 3597; van dc Loeff and Groen, 1993: 98-103; Franits, 1995: 16,84; Franits, 1987: 63; Broos, 1987: 111-18.

97 62 discussedin the first sectionof this chapter. This hybrid emblemof 'mother seamstress'is used throughout seventeenth-centurygenre painting to createthe uncompromising 63 atmosphereof domesticbliss and maternal duty exemplified by Dou's YoungMother.

3.4

Needleworkiconography in An Alchemist at Work with a Mother by a Cradle has various effects. Quite apart from its symbolic connotations,the hybrid emblemof domesticity subtly draws the chyrnical scholar away from the egocentric,male-dorninated laboratories of paintings by artists such as Teniers. Thrust firmly into the confines of the home,the scholar is presentedas both responsiblefather to his son and conscientioushusband to his wife. In constructingthis testamentto 'accountable' alchemy,Wijck reconcilesthe theoretical chymical marriage with everydayDutch life, subverting the alchemical fantasy into a day-to- day reality of drudgery and monotony. The presenceof the needleworkerand cradle within the frame confirms the painting's overall senseof virtue and duty, and by extensionreinforces WijcVs unambiguouslypositive portrayal of alchemy. In An Alchemist in his Study with a WomanMaking Lace, the Rijksmuseums Alchemist and An Alchemist at Work with a Mother by a Cradle, stock emblemsof domesticvirtue serveas endorsementsto both their alchemical and familial contexts. Emblemsof needleworkand lace-makingare amongthe most powerful signifiers of female virtue. By using theseparticular emblems,Wijck placesthe female and the feminine firn-dy within the traditionally male sphereof the alchemicalworkshop. Thus in fusing the female field of domesticitywith the male sphereof philosophicalacademia, Wijck transforms his genderedportrayal of the chymical scholar into one of balancedpartnership.

The Teacher

4.0

This, the third and final sectionof this chapter turns to the depiction of the maternal teacher alongsidethe paternal scholar. Moving away from the oeuvre of ThomasWijck, this shorter

62'Mere are numerous examplesof women breastfeedingnext to cradles, many of which feature in Paragons of Virtue. For an example of a woman peeling fruit beside a cradle, seePieter de Hooch, A Womanand a Serving Girl %ith Fish, c. 1670-75, Rotterdam, Museum Boymans-vanBeuningcn. 63For example, this amalgam topos occurs in Nicholas Maes, The Naughty Drummer, c. 1656-57, Lugano, Thyssen-BornemiszaCollection; Pieter van Slingelandt, Mother Disciplining her Children, date unknown, location unknown. ReproducedFranits, 1995: 138; Gerard ter Borch, Seamstressby a Cradle, date unknown, Private Collection. ReproducedFranits, 1995: 79.

98 64 segmentexamines Gerrit Dou's Schoohnaster(Fig. 32). While the femaleand juvenile charactersin this work are peripheral,the painting makesa valuable contribution to discussionsof the feminine and the familial in paintings of the scholar.

While currently cataloguedwith the Chemical Heritage Foundation under the title The Alchemist, Dou's painting is not overtly alchemical and for this reasonthis thesis ascribesa new title to the work. Indeed,aside from the Foundation's evocativetitle, there is little even 65 remotely chymical about this scene. There is no furnace, no distillation apparatus,no obviously alchemicaltreatises and no dangling reptiles. It seems,then, that this work fails to fit the qualifying criteria outlined in the introduction. However, Dou's Schoolmasteris included here for severalreasons. Although the title may be a modernmisnomer, this painting possessesmany of the genderconventions evident in Wijck's chymical work. The balanceof femaledomesticity with male scholarshipis not commonin Netherlandishpainting and is, therefore,worthy of further investigation. Furthermore, a defining quality of this project is its comprehensivescope; this thesis aims to illustrate specific themesand motifs of genderthrough a wholly inclusive investigation. As such, this painting representsan important postscript for this chapter. Additionally, this painting significantly illustrates some key artistic conventionsregarding female readershipwhich will be developedfurther in Chapter IV. Consciousthen of its uncertain status, the following sectionexplores The Schoolmasteras a painting of scholarship.

4.1 Gerrit Dou's Schoolmaster

As the first memberof the faction known as the Leiden 'fine' painters, it is not surprising that Gerrit Dou is the subject of extensivecriticiSM. 66 Born to a Leiden glazier in 1613, Dou initially trained in his father's trade, appearingin the glazier guild's recordsin 1625 and 1627. However, by 1628 Dou was studying painting under Rembrandtvan Rijn, leaving three years later to significant critical acclaim A founder memberof Leiden's Guild of St. Luke, Dou also servedas an ensignin the local militia company,a position which reflects his elevated

64Gerrit Dou, The Schoolmaster, 1672, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.34. Oil on anel, 43 cm x 32 cm. Provenance:Eddleman Collection. 5 It is unknown at what stage Dou's painting acquired its title. However, according to Marjorie Gapp of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, "Ronnie Baer in her May 1990 dissertation, The Paintings of Gerrit Dou for the Department of Fine Arts NYU, cites a similar painting as 'T'he Pen Sharpener' and mentions that the theme of this painting was taken up by Dou's student, Frans van Mieris. in a 1913 book, Klassiker Der Kunst in Gesamtausgaven,Stuttgart und Berlin, DeutscheVerlogs-Anstalt, a similar painting is titled The Old School Master. In the Sotheby's sale 1991 our painting is called 'The Alchemist'. Probably it had a different title at some point. When it changedand who changed it is not known, though it is likely to have been a dealer." (Email received 29 November 2005). 66For a comprehensivebibliography of Gerrit Dou, seeThieme-Bccker, 1996-97,9: 503-05.

99 social status. By the 1660s,Gerrit Dou was a painter of international fame, possessinga reputation which helpedhim accumulatepupils like Frans van Mieris, Godfried Schalcken and Quiringh van Brekelenkam. Achieving the praise of fellow artists, Dou also attained wealth through his meticulouslydetailed and idiosyncratic portrayals of peopleand their trades. A painter of hermits, scholars,astrologers, university men, physiciansand dentists, Dou developedthrough the courseof his career an unwavering affection for scholarship. In common with many Leiden-basedpainters, Dou's work betrays the influenceof the prominent and vibrant university. Many of his paintings, in the vein of The Schoolmaster, feature learning and book readingas seriousand noble occupations.

As with so much of Dou's work, the primary characteris positioned in the centreforeground, leaning out of a large archedstone surround. Neither a window nor a niche, this compositionaldevice is purely functional, offering a barrier betweenthe world of the viewer and that of the illusory academic. In contrast to Wijck, Dou doesnot coax his audienceinto a suspensionof disbelief, but rather deniesopen and democraticdialogue between perceiver and perceived. Instead,in the mannerof a playwright, Dou sets his stagebeneath a prosceniumarch, inviting his audienceto enjoy an acknowledgedfiction. The dominantly engravedfigures beneaththe arch, MDCLXXH, contributes to its senseof artifice and helpfully provides a date for the painting. Centre-stageappears the protagonist; a striking and unusual character,the man is clearly a scholar. Bedeckedin opulent and colourful fabrics, the characteris pictured preparing a quill for writing. A red cloth cap sits atop his balding head, while his upper torso is drapedin a lush greenrobe with gold detail. Through tiny pince-nez, the ostensiblescholar focuseskeenly on the point of the quill and the blade that cuts it. The small neat white beard, thinning grey hair and intent peering suggestan agedwisdon-L An open documentand hourglassrest on the stoneledge, with most of the sandremaining optimistically in the upper half of the glass. A birdcage, a favourite motif for Dou and alchemicalpainters in general,hangs on the wall to the left of the scholar. The single book, which lies open on the sloping desk, provides final confirmation of an academicarena. As a portrait of scholarly endeavour,this painting shareslittle with its Wijcldan counterparts;in style, composition and tone, their work is highly dissimilar. Yet, both artists convey a respect for the intellectual and philosophical; Dou's spaceis controlled and calm, a place for measurednxxhtation and study. The generoushourglass and the scholar's focus on the most trivial of tasks suggestprudence and humility, while the single tome and simple, clean desk imply discipline and method.

This is not howevera sceneof scholarly solitude. Through the stonearch, beyond the sweepingcurtain, lies a small grouping of peopledeep in the left background. Seatedat a

100 sturdy woodentable are four figures, all of whom appearto be female. Although ambiguity encirclesthe indistinct gathering,an impression of domestic schoolingpresides. The tallest of thesefigures, the mother, sits in the middle of the row, with a child either side; oppositeher, and with her back to the viewer, is a final daughter. A fifth individual, anotherchild, is positioned away from the farnily, descendingvia unseenstairs into the room. Although it is difficult to discern detail in the family grouping, the girls appear to be learning literacy under the supervisionof their mother. The smallestchild, the figure furthest left, is learning to read; with her eyeslowered, the infant traces the words on the page with a steadyfinger. Despite initial impressionsof male solitude, The Schoolmasteris, in fact, crowded with unidentified, and predominantlyfemale, figures. Guided by an unidentified matriarch and located in the far recesses,the young female grouping has no interaction with the male lead. Instead, an ideological partition emergesbetween the male scholar of the foreground and the female grouping of the back. This division raises ambiguity regarding the roles of the two adult figures in the scene. While the male is maroonedin the foreground, bereft of immediate context, the female is framed in a clear social situation. Enclosedby a circle of little students, the matriarch clearly assumesthe role of teacher.

At that time, the Northern Netherlandswithin both a national and Europeancontext enjoyed especiallyhigh literacy levels, with basic education,at least to somedegree, crossing class and genderboundaries. 67 While writing was a comparatively elitist skill, reading was taught widely in the Northern provincial statesto both girls and boys through affordable, subsidized Reformed schooling. But while educationtypically occurred in external teaching establishments,literacy and learning was also encouragedin the home. As Schamaasserts, 68 "the proper place for such instruction was the family home!. Although there are comparativelyfew paintings which documentthe maternal teacherand the child reader, Caspar Netscher'sMaternal Instruction (Fig. 33), held at the National Gallery, London, aptly illustrates 69 This like that Dou, illustrates female the genus. painting, of a purely relationship, in the bond of the mother teacherand the daughterpupil. The three characters,one woman and two children, are logically identified by the National Gallery as mother, daughterand son. In an affluent backgroundsetting, the matriarch, drapedin ermine-trim, teachesher well- groomeddaughter to read, while her son kneelsby a chair playing with a puppy. A gender chasmdivides the painting, with the son and daughter's backs turned to one another,and the

67For more on the reasonsbehind this and literacy in general in the seventeenth-centuryNetherlands seeIsrael, 1998: 686-90. 68Schama, 1991: 558. 69Caspar Netscher, Maternal Instruction [Full title: A Lady Teaching a Child to Read, and a Child Playing %ith a Dog (La Mattresse dYcole)], 1670s,National Gallery, London NG844. Oil on oak, 45.1 cm x 37 cm. Provenance:bought with the Peel collection, 1871.

101 mother physically aligned with the girl. Distracted, the boy looks up from his play with impish eyesto engagethe viewer. Kneeling on the floor, among the debris of play, this smaU figure is a picture of childish mischief. The daughterembodies the antithesisof her brother's light-heartedness.Standing erect, the young girl with neat curls and tidy dresstrains her eyes conscientiouslyon the book in front of her, her tiny finger following the words as she reads. Head bent, her slight figure echoesthat of the chymical scholar. With her mother by her side, the daughterdedicates her time to academicvirtue, while her brother fritters away the hours on fecklessplay. Once again, the ancient Aristotelian philosophy that "three things are neededto achievelearning: nature, teaching,and practice' is embodiedin a sceneof fernale duty.70 This time, however,it is the presenceof the mother-teacher,daughter-pupil that ]ends the work moral affirmation. The importanceof learning, in both a domesticand academic context, is emphasizedthrough the contrast of dutiful daughterand playful son. Nevertheless, a quiet threat underpinsthis sceneof domesticvirtue. The gravity of boy's conduct is emphasisedthough the inclusion of Rubens' Brazen Serpent on the wall beyond. Portraying a story from the Old Testament,this painting depicts Moses saving a crowd of wretched, writhing sinnersfrom a plague of fiery serpents,a just punishmentfor their ungodly ways. The juxtaposition of childish flippancy against such agony highlights the importanceof personalresponsibility and proper child-rearing to the perceptiveearly modernviewer.

Yet, the genderdelineation evident in the work of both Dou and Netscheris not typical of paintings of parental tutelage. More commonby far are compositionsthat reflect the paternal bond, with the father schoolingthe son in the written word. Family Group (Fig. 34), attributed 71 to Michiel Nouts, neatly encapsulatesthe conventionalvision of genderroles. This family portrait is segregatedinto two halves, with the female family memberson one side and the maleson the other. Significantly, the female sectionis characterizedby icons of play and feminine virtue: a rattle, a doll and two cherries. Conversely,the paraphernaliaof writing signifies the male space:a book, paper, inkwells, and quills. The young son holds the book in his hand, and the gesturefrom his father implies a tutor-pupil relationship. Typical of countlessportraits and genrepaintings, Nouts' Family Group illustrates the customary genderingof learning in art. Departure from this standard,in both the work of Dou and Netscher,is thereforeof someimport.

In their study of seventeenth-centurygenre prints, de Jongh and Luijten note that:

70Ernmens, 1969: 34. 71Michiel Nouts, attributed, Family Group, c. 1655, National Gallery, London NG 1699. Oil on canvas, 178 cm x. 235 cm. Provenance:the left half presentedto National Gallery by Charles Fairfax Murray, 1900; the right half bought, 1910.

102 Depictions of children or near-adultsreading may have conjured up associationswith diligence. Wallerant Vaillant, the master of the mezzotint, was fond of depicting boys diligently drawing or reading.72

Undoubtedly,boyhood diligence is often indicated in genrepainting through the presenceof books and through the act of reading. However, de Jongh and Luijten do not discussthe depiction of girls. Researchcarried out in this thesis,conversely, has found that the meaning of books and the act of readingin seventeenth-centurygenre painting is to a greaterdegree dependanton the genderof the reader. Bookishness,book learning and books themselvesin portraits or in genredepictions of men often signify academicprowess and, by extension, personalsuccesS. 73 However, evenwithin traditional portraits of non-scholarlymen, books and literary paraphernaliadenote intelligence and accomplishment. This associationbetween the book and personalachievement is clearly illustrated in Gerrit Dou's Self-Portrait, in which one hand rests on a large splayedtome, while the other clasps a palette and brushes.74 This, like so many portraits of prominent men, includes other tokens of learning, which 75 contextually symbolizepersonal triumph .

Conversely,the genericbook has a limited role to play in paintings of women. Instead, portraits of maidensfrequently include a pron-drientdevotional, domesticor moral handbook or, more cominonly, the Bible. For example,Gerrit Dou's Old WomanReading portrays the close study of a book identified as a Catholic lectionary, openedto Luke, Chapter 19.76 Similarly, Gerrit Dou's Portrait of a Young Woman depicts a maidenturning the leavesof a 77 songbook,with a Bible lying close by. Other examplesof specific title placementsare numerousin seventeenth-centurypaintings of women. Identifiable titles usually allude to female achievementspermitted and, in many cases,defined by the strict confines of their specifiedpedagogical literature. Furthermore,books in female portraits seemnot to allude to intellect in the mannerof male portraits, but rather denotean inclination to learn. Among the

72De Jonghand Luijten, 1997:305. 73Consider, for example,Thomas Wijck, TheAlchemist #3, dateunknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia 00.03.06; Thomas Wijck, TheAlchemist, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia 00.01.261; Thomas Wijck, TheAlchemist #1, dateunknown, Chemical HeritageFoundation 00.03.05; in additionto HendrickHeerschop, An Alchemistand hisAssistant, date unknown,Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.14; Follower of Dou,An Alchemistin his Laboratory,date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.12. 74Gerrit Dou, Self Portrait, c.1665, Private Collection, Boston. ReproducedBaer et al., 2000: 123. 75In this case,it is a globeand violin. Many portraitscelebrate the successof their subjectthrough the inclusionof otherobjects, most commonly, the map,skull, quills andpaper, all of which have academicsignificance. 76Rotermund, 1957: 123-50. 77Gerrit Dou,Portrait of a YoungWoman, date unknown, Private Collection. ReproducedFranits, 1995:20.

103 numerousemblems of female virtue which litter the illustrated prefacepage to 'Maeghde- Wapen' (Fig. 30) are openbooks. The inscription Teer-sucht' [readinessto learn] lies in the lower left comer of the printed page,close to the small pile of books. In proclaiming the virtue of the female willingnessto learn, Cats is essentiallycelebrating the wifely qualities of docility and compliance. Within the context of Netscher'sMaternal Instruction, therefore, the daughterserves not as an academicmodel to her brother, but rather as an edifying embodimentof the broader principles of docility, duty and piety. Once again, thesefemale qualities give further moral validation to the primary sceneof scholarship,aligning academic values with thoseof the early modemDutch household.

4.2

A highly unusual depiction of scholarship,Gerrit Dou's Schoolmasternonetheless adheres to many of the compositionalarrangements evident in the alchemical work of Thomas Wijck. With the scholar close by in the foregroundand the family far away in the back, the work is effectively divided into two distinct, genderedarenas. There is no acknowledgementbetween the two spheres,which operateindependently. This senseof isolation is enhancedby Dou's methodof lighting the two regionsindividually, a techniquewhich in other alchemical paintings encouragesan emblematicreading. As with Wijck's work, The Schoolmaster expressesthe harmony of the householdin the portrayal of precisegender ideals. As the male occupiesthe role of diligent and devotedscholar, so too, the female fulfils her prescribedrole as the virtuous and instructive mother. This balanceof female domesticity and male scholarshiptypifies Netherlandishpaintings of the chymical scholar and alludes not only to the harmony of the home,but also to the equilibrium integral to the chymical marriage. Yet while the female faction of the family occupiesitself with learning, their activity shareslittle with the male scholarshipof the foreground. Instead,Dou, like Wijck, exploits female conduct emblematically. Maternal tutoring and femalebook learning delivers a sensenot of scholarship,but of the specifically female 'Leer-sucht' identified by Cats and explored by Netscher. Communicatingconnotations of female docility, this femalegrouping effectively lends further moral sanctionto the foreground sceneof male scholarship.

104 Condusion

The beautifully illustrated sixteenth-centurytreatise the Splendor Solis holds perhapsthe most 78 famous and finely executedrepresentation of the chymical marriage in existence. I-Estorically attributed to the mythic SalomonTrismosin, this illuminated manuscriptcontains twenty-two elaborateimages which describethe alchemical sequencein traditional symbolic terms. The illustration of the chymical marriage (Fig. 35), which portrays the meetingof the Solar King and Lunar Queen,alludes to the strict set of binarisms on which alchemicaltheory is based79 The Red King White Queenare depictedstanding, respectively, atop flaming . and fire and a watery sphere. Rising abovethe Female fies a Moon and abovethe Male, a Sun. As the King and Queenpartake of silent dialogue, so too the celestial bodiesshare an unspokencommuniqud. The intricate emblematicquality of the compositioneffects a sense of completion through antithetical construct.

The Splendor Solis is archetypalin its depiction of this essentiallysymbiotic marriage of opposition. Dominatedprimarily by the pervasivepresence of the Red King and White Queen,the chymical marriagecelebrates the idiosyncratic and binaristic perfection of two polar opposites:Sol and Luna. The Dutch scholar and domesticparagon embody the same idealized, genderedcharacteristics represented by the Splendor Solis' alchemicalsovereigns. In the numerousportraits of the chymical scholar the representationof the male paradigm remainsconstant. A distinctly formulaic representation,the chymical studentin seventeenth- century genreart personifiesthe masculinesphere of natural philosophy and alludes to a peculiarly male attainment. Occurring in countlessgenre paintings with a remarkablelack of variation, the characterizationof the scholar embodiesthe spiritual equilibrium inherentto esotericalchemy. As this chapter shows,the unchangingmale ideal is occasionallycoupled with an analogousfemale paragon. Wayne Franits' Paragons of Virtue compellingly illustrates how the early modemDutch conceptionof female perfection was intrinsically related to domesticity. Using the premiseof Franits' work, this chapter has explored the depiction of three domesticcharacterizations within the context of the alchemicalworkshop and the Dutch home. An analysis of the Cook, Seamstressand Teacherin thesepaintings furthers understandingof the complex nature of the iconographicalchyrnical marriage. While thesedomestic paragons allude to the extraordinary reinvention and perpetuationof the White Queenof alchemicalemblemata, they also signify the feminization of the historical workshop. Deborah E. Harknesswrites that in the sixteenthand seventeenthcenturies, natural

78Trismosin, 1582. 79Plate IV, Trismosin, Splendor Solis, 1582, London, British Library, Harley MS 3469, fol. I (Y.

105 80 philosophy "was not a world without women,but amongwomen". She continuesto describethe relocation of alchemicallearning and practice from the male crucibles of the university and monasteryto the female sphereof the home, stating "when examining the householdas a site of knowledge,we must not forget that the early modem householdwas, first and last, domesticand feminine space!.81 Genrepaintings of the chymical marriage testify to this relocation and to the participation of the female within the alchemical workshop. Furthermore,in genrepaintings of the chymical scholar and domesticparagon, we witness the inadvertenttransmutation of the Red King and White Queenin a wholly unexpectedstage of a purely iconographicalopus alchymicum.

80Harkness, 1997: 249. 81Harkness, 1997: 262.

106 CHAPTER III

PISKUKENAND PISSE-PROPHETS:EMBLEMATIC WOMEN IN PAINTINGS OF THE CHYMICAL-UROSCOPIST'S WORKSHOP.

Addressingthe philosophiesof esotericand exoteric alchemy and exploring the conflicts containedtherein, this thesishas thus far confined itself to the chrysopoeianworkshop and scholar's study. By contrast, ChapterIII focuseson an equally critical branch of chymistry in its analysis of iatrochernicalpaintings. Although 'iatrochemistry' more accuratelydescribes the harnessingof chymistry within a medical capacity, academiccircles today commonly ' apply the term to paintings which possesssigns of both chymistry and medicine. Fundamentalto this thesis' emergingdefinition of chymistry, 'iatrochemistry' in this chapter broadly describesthe evolving chemical state of medicineduring the seventeenthcentury.

In the early modem period, the breadth of iatrochernicalpainting was vast. Surviving works depict a myriad of medical proceduresand products, from gory surgeriesto routine dentistry. This chapter, however,specifically examinesthe uroscopist of the chymical workshop. Ranging from fraudulent quacksto university-trained physicians,early modem uroscopists were medical practitioners of mixed ability and repute. To a certain extent, all health workers of this era employedthe patient's urine as an important diagnostic tool; whereaswater- doctors or piskijken would use urine alone to determinea diagnosis,respectable physicians would employ uroscopy only in conjunction with other medical methods. Appearing under various guisesand in numeroussettings, uroscopists were a popular subject for Netherlandish genrepainters. Undoubtedly,-these characters occur most often within a non-chymical 2 context, typically surfacing as visiting physiciansin the domesticsickroom. However, whetherchymical or non-chymical,these paintings are united by their exceptionaldepiction of women:when the uroscopist is accompaniedby a patient, it is almost always a woman. In its survey of almost one hundredsuch paintings, this project has not discovereda single, unambiguousdepiction of a male patient in a seventeenth-centurygenre scene of chyrnical- uroscopy. Instead,representations of the chyrnical workshop consistentlyportray a focal female characterstanding alongside a male chyrnist inspecting a vial of urine.

1 See,for example, Principe and DeWitt, 2002: 27-28. 2 On the visiting doctor and the extent of Netherlandish health care during this period seeHuisman, 1989: 63-83; Huisman, 1992; Huisman, 1997: 69-100; Huisman and Santing, 1997: 11-22; Huisman, 1999: 359-75.

107 Complementingestablished research on the female in the sickroom, this chapterseeks to expoundthe chymical and iconological significance of women in the uroscopist's workshop.

The contentionof this chapteris twofold: firstly, that the focal femalein such genrepaintings is a gynaecologicalsymbol with overtonesof pregnancy,which constitutesan emblemwithin the alchemicaltradition. Secondly,this chapter arguesthat the evolution of one such symbol signifies the devolution of traditional chymical art and its governingconventions. Like ChaptersI and II, this study of uroscopic genrepainting is tripartite. The first section serves as an extendedintroduction to medicineand uroscopy in the Netherlands,and its manifestationin seventeenth-centuryart; the ambiguity surrounding uroscopy in the seventeenthcentury requirescomprehensive explication to facilitate appreciationof further critical content. In a survey of the chymical genrepainters Egbert van Heemskerckthe Younger and Mattheus van Helmont, the subsequentsection seeksto clarify the symbolic significanceof the femalepatient in both a chymical and non-chymical context. The final sectionexpounds the complexity of female fertility symbols through an analysis of the work of Gerard Thomas and Balthasar van den Bossche. Locating theseimages within the iconographicalchymical. tradition of reiteration and reference,this sectionalso charts the decline of chymistry and uroscopyin paintings of the early eighteenthcentury.

latrochemistry: a Medicinal Alchemy

1.0

With its genesisin the alchemiesof antiquity, iatrochemistry predates,by someconsiderable margin, the chemicalrevolution of Paracelsusand his successors.Integral to the ancient alchemicalphilosophies of India and China, iatrochemistry centredoriginally on the appropriation of the elixir, an agentwhich would promote longevity and potentially enable 3 immortality. Taoist and Hatha-Yogic thought identified the prolongation of physical fife and the perfection of spiritual fife as key alchemicalaims alongsidethe transmutationalgoals 4 characteristicof traditional Western alchemy. An iatrochemical emphasisin Western alchemy,however, arrived only in the late twelfth century, with the work of chemical analysts at the University of Padua. Producing numerousdocumentary texts, this group of physicians

3 For more on the nature of Chinese and Indian chymistry seeEliade, 1979: 109-26; White, 1997; Debus, 1965: 23; Taylor, 1951: 68-75; Holmyard, 1957: 31-40; YU and Needham, 1959: 57-117. 4 For further referenceson chemically prepared medicines and their associatedtexts in the seventeenth century seeDebus, 2002a: 19-25.

108 soughtto determinethe medicinalproperties of mineral waters. Thesetwelfth-century efforts engendereda generationof Italian chymists who meticulously recordedtheir chemical 5 experimentationsin widely broadcasttracts. As techniquesof chemicalanalysis spread throughout Europe, chemicalmedicine and the prolongation of life re-emergedas alchemical ambitions. By the mid-thirteenthcentury, Roger Bacon, amongstothers, had resurrectedthe ancient alliance of medicineand alchemyin literature regarding both esotericphilosophies 6 and tangible pharmaceuticals. Theseiatrochen-ists, who also included Amald of Villanova and, later, John Rupescissa,generally explored the curative powers of metal and mineral distillates alongsiderecognized herbal remedies. By the mid-sixteenthcentury iatrochemists and their diverse medicaltheories were broadly acceptedwithin the parametersof traditional medicine. For the most part, then, proponentsof chemical medicinewere often Galenists, whosetheories complemented, rather than contradicted,established medical thought.

The cordial relationshipbetween iatrochernistry and Galenic medicine,however, was not to last. With the propagationof Paracelsiantheory in the sixteenthcentury, medicineand chymistry changedfundamentally and irrevocably. In the early sixteenthcentury, Philippus Aureolus TheophratusBombastus von Hohenheim,or Paracelsus,launched a violent assault against medical orthodoxy.7 Born in Einsiedeln,Switzerland in 1493, the maverick chemical philosopherand physician fiercely denouncedthe traditional herbal and humoural medicineof the ancients,publicly burning the works of Avicenna while employedwith the University of Basel.8 Claiming that his shoebuckleswere more learnedthan Galen and Avicenna, Paracelsusperceived an inherentincompatibility betweeniatrochemistry and traditional medicine.9 Arguing that Galen, Avicenna and Aristotle were ignorant of true philosophy, Paracelsussuggested that lessonsof nature should be learnt through fresh observation.10 He rei ectedthe ancientbelief that diseasewas causedthrough an internal imbalanceof the four humours and insteadsought external, and specifically environmental,explanations. In direct responseto the heathenancients, Paracelsian theory relied significantly on the Holy

5 For more on thesetexts and the subject of water analysis seeDebus, 2002a: 14; Debus, 1962: 41-61; Park, 1985. 6 For Bacon's iatrochernical perspectivesee Bacon, 1859: 538-42. 7 On Paracelsusand chymical medicine seeGrell ed., 1998; Pagel, 1958; Pagel, 1986; Debus, 2002b; Debus, 2002a; Debus, 1987; Debus, 1972: 185-99; Debus, 1974: 235-59; Debus, 1976: 307-17; Debus, 1973: 85-99. 8 For more on Paracelsus'rejection of the ancients seePagel, 1958: 58-59. 9 Goodrick-Clarke, 1999: 74. 10Galenic medicine subscribesto a complex of opposites,to which the Aristotelian elemental principles earth, water, air and fire are inherent. The condition of the mind and body is dictated by the balance of Galenic qualities expressedthrough the corporal manifestation of the four humours: yellow bile, blood, phlegm and black bile. Bound inextricably to these Aristotelian principles are the four seasons,four agesof Man and the emotional temperamentof an individual. For a summary of Galenic medicine during the early modern period seeLindemann, 1999: 67-70.

109 Scriptures and unequivocallycondemned the Galenic dependenceon logic and mathematics. Like severalof his iatrochemicalpredecessors, Paracelsus emphasized mineral and metallurgical remediesin place of conventionalherbal curatives. Yet while chemical medicinewas pivotal to its ascendancy,Paracelsian theory far transcendedpharmaceuticals. Drawing upon astrology, alchemy,metaHurgy, folk medicine,Hermeticism, Gnosticism and " Christianity, Paracelsusproposed a unique, if incoherent,chemical vision of the universe. This chemicalworld view, which was basedfundamentally on the macrocosm-microcosm 12 model, aligned the entire cosmologyto chemical components. Developingthe alchemical theoriesof Islamic texts, Paracelsusadvanced a tripartite systemof salt, sulphur and mercury, to which the Divine Trinity was inherent. Expelling all remnantsof Galenic medicine,this pioneeringchemical visionary reducedthe universeand its entire contentto absolutechemical terms.

Antagonistic and eccentricby nature, Paracelsusdid not attract a multitude of followers during his lifetime. Indeed,it was only after his deathin 1541 that his generalphilosophies gainedany significant credence.In the third quarter of the sixteenthcentury, the erratic and often unintelligible writings of the Swiss insurgent were restructured and synthesizedby a new generationof Paracelsians,who appropriatedhis legacy in a struggle to undermine medical orthodoxy. As the publication of Paracelsianliterature acceleratedin the latter half of the sixteenthcentury, argumentbetween the establishmentand the new iatrochemists inevitably escalated.13 By the seventeenthcentury, however,chemical philosophy was f irmly entrenchedwithin the medicalhierarchy. Despite the diverse responseto Paracelsian concepts,Northern Europeanmedical institutions were predominantlyreconciled to chemical remediesand selectediatrochemical theories by the earliest years of the century.14 These iatrochemicaladvances were consolidatedand then transformedby the Flemish chyrnist Jean Baptista van Helmont.

Born in Brusselsin 1579, van Helmont turned to medicineonly after disillusionment with his study of philosophy and, later, law. Influenceddeeply by the chemical philosophiesof Paracelsusand his followers, the physician understoodchemistry as the key to understanding medicineand nature. Rejecting the ancients,van Helmont nonethelessbroke from the

11See Paracelsus, 1565. 12The macrocosm-microcosm.theory also has its roots in Chinese alchemy. SeeNeedham, 1954,5: Part V 68-70,116-22,136,244. 13Debus, 2002a: 128; for a list of Paracelsiantexts published during this period seeSudhoff, 20W. 14The simplicity of this synopsisobviously belies the complexity of the historical prelude that shaped the medical climate of the Golden Age. However, as this chapter is limited to a single aspectof traditional and new chemical medicine, the author refers the reader to the comprehensiveworks already published in this quarter.

110 establishedParacelsian mould, vehementlyslating conceptsintegral to earlier iatrochemical philosophies. He rejectedthe inherencyof the Paracelsiantria prima and interpretedthe macrocosm-microcosmonly in terms of a metaphor. While a practising and reportedly successfulchrysopoeian, the contribution of van Helmont to the developmentof modem chemistry was considerable. Interestedin the developmentof instruments,specific gravity and the existenceof gases,the revolutionary chymist recognizedthat matter could neither be creatednor destroyed. He also realizedthat gaseswere distinct from atmosphericair. In a quest to "destroy the whole natural Phylosophyof the Antients, and to make new the Doctrines of the Schoolesof natural Phylosophy", van Helmont placed unparalleledemphasis 15 on observationaland experimentalmethodologies. His proceduresrelied considerablyon quantification, an approachadopted rarely by chymists at that time. Van Helmont also advocatedthe application of chernicalprinciples to the preparation of medicines; understandingdigestion in terms of chemicalreactions, he recommendedalkalis to counteract the acidity of the digestivejuices. The posthumouspublication of Ortus Medicinae in 1648 galvanizedchemical philosophy, demanding a universal review of all medical and chymical thought. Propelling iatrochernistryto a position of authority within academicand medical 16 establishments,van Helmont heraldeda new age of chemical philosophy.

Yet while iatrochemistryundoubtedly increased in stature and significancein Europe during the seventeenthcentury, the field of medicinewas not subject to overt fragmentation.17 As more reconciliatory iatrochemistsgradually infiltrated the chairs of important universities, Galenic and iatrochernicalmedicines seem to have reachedequilibriurn. The period, as Debus remarks, "was one of synthesis;perhaps as many synthesesexisted as there were authors".18

1.1 Medicine in genre painting

Netherlandishpaintings of the seventeenthcentury clearly portray the synthesisof which Debus writes. Depicting an amalgamationof Galenic, Helmontian, Paracelsianand traditional chymical theory, thesepaintings allude to the evolving state of medicineand the changingpriorities of chymistry. By the mid-seventeenthcentury, Paracelsiansand Helmontianshad shifted the emphasisof alchemy from chrysopoeiato iatrochemistry, from

15Van Helmont, 1966: 6. 16For more on van Helmont and Helmontian philosophy seePagel, 2002; Newman and Principe, 2002: 56-91. 17For a more detailed summary of the assimilation of iatrochemistry and Galenic medicine see Lindemann, 1999: 66-91. For further studies on the medical climate in the seventeenth-century Netherlands seeMarland and Pelling eds., 1996; Knoeff, 2002; Cook, 1994. 18Debus, 2002a: 537.

III gold to medicine. Consequently,chymical scholars and chrysopoeiansacross Europe increasingly supplementedtheir income by formulating pharmaceuticalsand mineral-based restorations. It is likely, then, that while allusions to transmutation saturatethe seventeenth- century canvas,depictions of lucrative iatrochernistrymore closely reflect the daily operations of the Netherlandishworkshop. Representinga fusion of rnedicaltheories, these scenes often depict Galenic texts, for example,alongside complex chyn-ficalapparatus. 19 With a heavy dependenceon stock motifs and topoi, medical-chyrnicalgenre paintings are often very formulaic. Chiefly pharmacologicalin nature, paintings illustrate respectableapothecary shops,physicians' offices, quack vendorsand genericiatrochemical workshops.20 Often these scenessimply contain pharmaceuticalsignifiers, like the blue and white apothecarypots evidencedin most of the paintings discussedin this thesis. Others, however,are more explicit in subject, depicting, often graphically, the torturous labours of barber-surgeons,foot- surgeons,dentists and tooth-pullers. But perhapsthe most enduring symbols of iatrochemistry in genrepanting are the hanging reptiles and fish which adorn so many laboratoriesin Netherlandishgenre scenes. While noting that "little distinction was madein the seventeenthcentury betweenthe physician and the alchemist", JaneP. Davidson considers thesesignature creatures important as alchemicalingredients for "recipes and in the preparationof medicines".21

This chapter, however,is specific in its examinationof iatrochemicalpainting. In uncovering iatrochemistry's most compellingportraits of women, it exploresthe significance of the female in paintings of uroscopyin the chymical workshop.

19Paintings which include overt symbols of both iatrochemistry and Galenic medicine include Gerard Thomas, A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2, date unknown, Wellcome Library, London 45026i (a prominent text is clearly labelled "Libri Galeni de Medicine", while key chymical apparatusand operations are evident in the background); A follower of Gerard Thomas, A Physician Examining a Urine-Flask, date unknown, Wellcome Library, London 584860i (on the table lies a book inscribed "Libe[r] Hipocr", while chymical equipment is evident around the workshop); Gerard Thomas, A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #J, date unknown, Wellcome Library, L6ndon 47322i (this painting includes a book of Hippocratesalongside identifiable chymical apparatusand a tooth-puller in the background). 20For example, Gerrit Dou, The Quack, 1652, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Mattheus van Helmont, An Alchemist at Work, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.36; After Adriaen van Ostade,Physician Examining a Urine Flask, date unknown, Wellcome Librar)4 London 47456i. 21 While this reading is contentious, it aptly intimates the indissoluble nature of the medical and chymical worlds of the seventeenthcentury. Davidson, 1987: 74-75. Others interpret the hanging animals as emblemsof esoteric philosophy. For a discussion of this motif see http: //www. levity. com/alchemy/r-july98. html (accessed10 November 2005).

112 1.2 Uroscopy v. Urinalysis

Bearing special connotationsfor Galenists,Paracelsians, Helmontians, traditional iatrochernistsand chrysopoeians,urine was an issue of someimportance in the seventeenth century. Within a medicalcontext, the significanceof urine dependedmuch upon the theoretical perspectiveof the physician. Countlessearly modem Netherlandishgenre paintings depict a physician or chyrnist examining a vial of liquid within an apothecary'sor chymical workshop. Severalof theseare most likely non-iatric, simply portraying the scientific scrutiny of chemicaldistillates. Others,however, allude unequivocallyto the ancient art and scienceof uroscopy. Uroscopy, the principal diagnostictool of Galenic medicine,involved the analysisof urine thorough sensoryassessment: colour, taste, smell, texture and content. Urinary colour wheelsand charts, exemplified by a 1506 folio held by the Wellcome Library (Fig. 36), were utilized by Europeanphysicians throughout the Middle Ages and early modem period to ascertainphysiological condition.22 Frequently employedas the sole meansof diagnosis,uroscopy had suffered a partial loss of credibility by the seventeenthcentury. The exact extent of this declinehas generatedexhaustive acadernic debate. Both Eddy de Jonghand PeterSutton suggestthat "water-doctors" were widely 23 perceivedas charlatansby the seventeenthcentury. Undoubtedly, the status of uroscopy was damagedby the increasingpopularity of Paracelsianand chemical medicine. Rejecting conventionalobservational uroscopy, Paracelsuspioneered urinalysis, or the chemical examinationof urine.24 Believing sensoryexamination of urine futile, the early Paracelsians proposedinstead the chemicaldissection, or distillation, of a sample. The residueof the distillation identified both the type of diseaseand its location in the body, while its weight determinedthe presenceof toxins and salt levels. Van Helmont contributed further to the field of urinalysis by advocatinga quantitative approachto diagnosis,related to the specific gravity of urine.25 This rise in urinalysis inevitably occasioneda declinein traditional uroscopy.

This decline is signalledby numerousEuropean texts which allude to the fallibility of uroscopy.26 The frontispiece of one Netherlandishmedical text (Fig. 37) explicitly expresses the inadequacyof the techniquein a scenewhich depicts the interment of deceasedpatients

22'Columns of urine flasks' in Ulrich Pinder, Epiphaniae Medicorum, 1506, London, Wellcome Library, Fol. AT, L0013700. 23Rijksmuseum, 1976; Sutton, 1982-83: 22. 24See Debus, 2002a: 59; Pagel, 1958: 189-94; Pagel, 1962: 19-20. 25See van Helmont, 1966: 64; Pagel, 2002: 55; Debus, 2002a: 110,327-28; Debus, 1965: 157-58; Pagel, 1958: 189-200. 26Among numerous others, these include Hart, 1623 and Brian, 1637.

113 27 following unsuccessfuluroscopies. The motley assortmentof healerswho performed uroscopiesaccounts, in part, for its dubious reputation. While the traditional analysis of urine was advocatedby university-trainedphysicians, it was also practisedby all mannerof unqualified individuals, including fraudulent urine-scryers,astrologers and wise women. The resulting diversity in qualification certainly justified the ambiguousstatus of the procedurein many Europeanquarters. Criticism was further levelled against the inevitable vulgarity of the procedure. Not surprisingly, the solemnexamination of urine and faeceswas a favourite 28 subject for Netherlandishsatirists in both art and literature. Satirical and scatological prints of piskijken proved popular in the early modem period and were usually designedto ridicule the conceit of the medical elite, the incompetenceof the amateur or the guile of the swindler.29 In its analysisof Trouble Comesto the Alchemist, Chapter I of this thesis introducesa satirist's scatologicaldepiction of the uroscopist's study, in which the comic potential of the subject is exploited with triumphant relish. Although Trouble Comesto the Alchemist is a highly idiosyncratic work, it encapsulatesthe essenceof the seventeenth- century satire in its sharp contemptfor negligentand fraudulent uroscopists.

Although this ridicule intensified with the rise of chemical medicine,it has beenconvincingly arguedthat uroscopy maintainedsome respectability in Europe throughout the early modern into Enlightenment30 As is period and the . the paintings of this presentchapter show, comedy by no meansa genericfeature of uroscopic art, with many artists clearly conveyingreverence towards their subject. Laurinda Dixon, in her researchon pre-Enlightenmentart and medicine,argues persuasively that uroscopy retainedvalidity within both the medical establishmentand the wider public throughout the seventeenthcentury. She assertsthat,

Untrained amateur 'piss prophets' abounded,and their feeswere lower than thoseof legitimate physicians. As a result, critics questionedthe effectivenessof uroscopy when doneincorrectly or by untrained practitioners. But the physiciansin Dutch paintings often wear academicapparel, advertising their membershipin the guild of physiciansand their possessionof a university degree. Thesedoctors would have viewed uroscopy as an effective diagnostictool dating from earliest antiquity.31

27Stephen Blankaart, Anatomiapractica rationalis (Amsterdam, c. 1688), Wellcome Library, London, frontispiece L000525 1. 28Refer to Chapter I of this thesis for an introduction to uroscopy in paintings of the chyrnical workshop and an outline of the role of satire in specific depictions of alchemy and medicine. 29Such prints may be exemplified by the seventeenth-centuryT& Bassin' reprinted in Dixon, 1995: 78. 30See Lindemann, 1999: 68. 31Dixon, 1995: 76.

114 Dixon's research,which extensivelyreviews paintings of physicians within the patient's home, supportsthe assertionthat uroscopy was respectedat least in somequarters during the early modem period.32

The uroscopist's attendancein the female sickroom is meticulously documentedand analysed in Dixon's study offuror uterinus in paintings of the 'doctor's visit' or 'lovesick maiden. However, in contrastto Dixon's researchwhich uncoversmale intrusion into female space, this chapter exploresfemale violation of a male domain: the chymical workshop.

1.3 Urine: an Agent of Transmutation

The depiction of the uroscopistin the chymical workshop differs fundamentallyfrom that of the sickroom. While the strict conventionsgoverning scenes of the sickroom are obviously absentfrom the chyrnical workshop,the subject of urine has particular resonancewithin a chymical landscape.

The correlationsbetween human waste and alchemy are introduced by Chapter I of this thesis. Urine is mentionedrecurrently in alchemicalliterature as a metaphoricaland sometimes literal ingredientto processesand recipes. "Children's Piss", alluded to in the opening chapter, occupiesan important, but singular role within a much broader alchemical vocabulary of urine. An ingredientin numerousmarginal or supplementaryoperations, urine was also consideredby many chyrnistsa crucial componentin the manufactureof the 33 Philosophers'Stone. While comprising numerousroles in exoteric procedures,urine occupiesa unique position in alchemicallore. Immortalized by JosephWright of Derby's The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone,Discovers Phosphorus,and Prays for 34 the SuccessAl Conclusion of his Operation (Fig. 38), the tale of Hennig Brandt's discovery of phosphorusin 1669 famously involves the putrification of vats of urine in a futile quest for chrysopoeianriches. 35

32 Conversely,her work also illustrates that satire and farce were sometimesfundamental to genre representationsof uroscopists,such as those by Jan Steen. For more on the artist's comic intent in the depiction of doctors seeGudlaugsson, 1975; Meige, 1900: 187-90. 33Sir GeorgeRipley was among those who used urine in their initial chrysopocian experimentations, Ashmole ed., 1967: 190. 34 JosephWright, The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, Discovers Phosphorus,and Praysfor the SuccessfulConclusion of his Operation, 1771, Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Oil on canvas, 127 cm x 101.6 cm. Provenance:sold at Christie's on 6 May 1801, as Lot 62 under the title "Ibe Alchymist in his Laboratory with Assistants" for E80.17.0. 35For a recent retelling of this tale seeEmsley, 2000: 4-20.

115 1.4 Urine and Female Fertility

But while urine might potentially have chymical connotationswithin seventeenth-century genrepaintings, its associationwith female fertility is of primary significanceto this chapter. The study of femaleurine has distinct connotationsof fertility and sexuality in Netherlandish genrepainting. VVWleart historianshave traditionally interpretedthe uroscopyof ailing women in genrepaintings as indicative of pregnancy,critics of the past decadehave identified specific gynaecologicalailments implicit in scenesof the 'doctor's visit'. 36 It is clear from this most recentresearch that womenin seventeenth-centurygenre paintings of uroscopy are generally symptomaticof womb-based"female diseases",rather than "general diseases" which could afflict both sexes.37

Femalefertility, like gender,represents a critical componentof chymical symbology. Thus far, this thesis has exploredthe transmutationof the chymical marriage and Philosophical Child from traditional manuscriptemblemata into icons of genreart. Iconographically and textually, however,female fertility far transcendsthis familial nucleus. For generationsof Western adeptsthe womb symbolizedthe germinal alembic, appearingin countlessancient and modem manuscriptsto illustrate practical apparatusand processes.Claiming a part within the symbolic narrative of the alchemical family, the "spagyric uterus" is the alembic in which the Stoneis forged and is also an emblemof the albedo stage.38 From Artephius to Geber,the womb is evokedby chyrnical authors to convey, yet contain, the secretsof the opus alchymicum.39 Breachingthe confines of the laboratory, chymical womb iconography was appropriatedby artists and writers acrossearly modem Europe, proving a public recognition of chymistry's gynaecologicalvocabulary. 40

1.5

Primarily examining works held by the Wellcome Library, London and the Chemical Heritage Foundation,Philadelphia, this chapter reviews and evaluatesthe patterns governing the depiction of femalepatients in a combineduroscopic and chymical context. While some

36Literature on the use of uroscopyin diagnosing pregnancy in genre painting is extensive. See,for example, Sutton, 1982-83: 24; Rijksmuseum, 1976: 135; Bedaux, 1975-76: 17; Nauman, 1981: 99; and for female diseasesand uroscopy in genre art seeDixon, 1995: 79. 37For the definitive study of womb disorders in paintings of the female patient seeDixon, 1995. See also King et al., 1993; King, 2004. 38Paracelsus, 1924: 285. 39For further referenceson womb imagery in alchemical art and literature seeAbraham, 2001: 219. 40 Numerous literary examplesinclude Donne's 'Comparison' which refers to the "limbeck's warm womb" and 'Love's Alchemy' which describesthe alembic as the "Pregnant pot", Donne, 2000: 62, 113. Jonsonalso aligns the alembic with "a wench with child", Jonson, 1995: 81 [II. ii. 8-9].

116 ambiguity may persist, a sceneof uroscopy may be distinguishedby severalfactors. Crucially, uroscopy is implied by the inspection of a 'urinal'; this roundedglass vessel is typically held aloft, towards a fight source,by a male characterin the apparelof physician, 41 The female in dress chyrnist or quack. presenceof a patient or servant outdoor often denotestransportation of urine from patient to chymist. This is usually confirmed by the presenceof a distinctive urine carrier, a cylindrical, straw basket, which often appearson the arm of the servantor patient (Fig. 39).42 The following sectionintroduces the subject of fernalefertility in paintings of the chyrnical-uroscopistand explores fermle emblemsin relation to their uroscopicand chymical context.

Female Fertility: Als ik my niet verzind is dezeMeid met Kind

2.0

Paintings of the uroscopistoutside the sickroom are, thus far, neglectedby research. In Transmutations:Alchemy in Art, Lawrence M. Principe and Lloyd DeWitt introduce the subject of uroscopy in the chymical laboratory with a brief pr6cis of Balthasar van den Bossche'sIatrochemist. 43 William Schupbachanalyses a painting of a possibleiatrochemical uroscopist in an equally concisearticle for the Wellcome Institute Newsletter." Excluding incidental and essentiallyinconsequential references to the theme,these two contributions constitute the core of researchin this area. Yet, despitethis critical void, the generalfield of uroscopy in art remainscluttered by fallacies, with confusion arising around the female diseasesdiagnosed through uroscopy. Therefore, although this sectionis concernedprimarily with the themeof pregnancy,the following clarifies the broader female medical issues surroundingthe depiction of uroscopy.

In recentyears the study of uroscopic art and literature has beenmarred by an underlying problem of terminology. Greensickness,lovesickness, uterine hysteria, erotic melancholy,

41Urinals were also often used in alchemical experiments. One recipe for creating the elixir states "take Vitriol, calcine it into ashes,then beat them into most subtle powder; put them in an Urinal, and pour thereto Virgins Milk to cover them, stop the Urinal with a Linnen cloth, and let it stand eight dayes". Colson, 1668: 45. 42This straw caseappears in almost all the paintings discussedin this chapter. Its use is illustrated by a fifteenth-century German woodcut which depicts the physician examining a urine flask and the maidservant with the carrier. 'Physician examining urine fask, the woman who has brought it standing by, holding fask basket' in Anon., Herbarius zu Teutsch (Mainz, 1485), Wellcome Library, London M0017048/00. 43Principe and DeWitt, 2002: 27. 44Schupbach, 2003: 6-8.

117 vapours and chlorosis are terms applied freely but defined rarely. The greatestsemantic obstacleto modem researchlies in the confusion of lovesicknesswith pregnancy,a by 45 Known Dutch misapprehensionpropagated persistently current-day scholars. to the as soetepijn, minipijn or minnekoorts,lovesickness was a condition of fluid definition. Its symptomsincluded sunkeneyes, pale complexion, fainting, palpitations, melancholy,poor appetite, racing pulse, listlessnessand lethargy, and was largely believedto be engenderedby enflarnedsexual passionsor by 'unnatural' abstinence. Medical theorists variously identified the origin of the malady in the impact of the wanderingwomb on other organsor in the 46 womb's exhalation of poisonousvapours. Although the early moderncondition bears some relation to the current day term 'lovesick', lovesicknessto a seventeenth-centuryuniversity- trained physician was, unquestionably,a tangible diseaseto be treated and cured. While the condition is complicatedby a lack of contemporarymedical consensus,the associationof lovesicknesswith pregnancycannot be justified. Indeed,considered even by its most vague definition, lovesicknessprecludes the possibility of conception. In her study of the female sickroom, Dixon, unlike many critics, shrewdly avoids the problems of terminology by using furor uterinus and hystericopassio as blanket terms to describe"all organic disordersof the 47 uterus describedby early physicians". Theseexpressions are used to distinguish early modem gynaecologicaldisorders from both the pregnantstate and from a modem day interpretation of the word 'lovesick'. As specific ailments do not play a central role in this chapter, the collective termfuror uterinus will suffice here to describethe manifold conditions which signify a disordered,but childless, womb.

Used to diagnoseboth pregnancyandfuror uterinus, uroscopy is commonin paintings of the female sickroorn. In her argumentthat paintings of the 'lovesick maiden' generally depict sufferersoffuror uterinus, Dixon discussesthe colouration of urine in early modem female patients. She notesthat "although a watery texture and color were symptomaticof the earlier stagesoffuror uterinus, urine tendedto be thick and red in the latter stages,signifying too long concoctionwithin the body".48 Exploring the medical significanceof urine, Dixon does not suggestthat uroscopy alone indicatesfUror uterinus, but carefully locatesthe condition through a combinationof different pictorial signifiers. But while Perilous Chastity is persuasivein its contention,its scopedoes not encompassextensive discussion of more conventionalinterpretations. Unsurprisingly, many of thesepaintings, with their associations

45Tbcsc texts include Brown, 1999: 29; Slive, 1995: 167. 46For more on the definition of lovesickness,its symptoms and causes,see van Beverwyck. 1644: 453- 68; Bedaux, 1975-76: 17-42; Ferrand, 1990: 113-22; Wack, 1990. 47Dixon, 1995: 15. 48Dixon, 1995: 79.

118 of eroticism and fertility, are traditionally recognizedas scenesof pregnancy.49 While Dixon successfuHycounters this argumentin conventionalimages of the 'lovesick maiden', ambiguity persistsabout paintings which contain few, if any, of thefuror uterinus symptoms outlined by Perilous Chastity. Examining uroscopy in the chymical workshop, the following sectionidentifies specific connotationsof pregnancyin the characterizationof the female 50 patient. In particular, this part exploresthe emblematicsignificance of the weeping woman in paintings of the uroscopist's workshop and introducesthe homunculusas a dual symbol of quintessentiallymale and, paradoxically, female achievement.

2.1 The Weeping Woman

A Physician-AlchemistExamining a Urine Flask (Fig. 40), attributed to a follower of David Teniers, is a highly evocativeportrayal of a uroscopist in a chymical setting.51 In the style of Mattheus van Helmont, the painting depicts a familiarly murky workshop executedwith a homogeneouslymuddy palette. Split into two distinct areasby a vertical partition wall, the background,located towards the left of the scene,occupies over a third of the painting, with the foregroundpositioned in the middle and right. The background depictsthe dim, far-off recessesof a rambling workshop, shieldedfrom the chymist in the foreground. Although centuriesof accumulateddirt rendersthis area largely indistinct, three assistantsremain distinguishablewithin a self-containedscene; they appearbusy about a furnace, operating various distillations. Superficially, the foreground is an immediately recognizablesetting: its distinctive litter of gnarledbranches, wisps of straw and paper is reminiscentof van Helmont's alchemicalinteriors. Isolated from his workers, a chymist sits at a broad, rounded furnace. In place of burning coals, the dormant oven storespiles of books, which spill carelesslyonto the unkempt floor. With handsheld aloft, the chymist examinesa vial of urine against an unseenlight. Ms outstretchedarms, coveredin a startling vermilion, stand out spectacularlyagainst the generalgloom. The rest of his dress,a leather work-apron, dark cap and pants, melds seamlesslyinto the murky setting. With his neck twisted to the side, he gazesupon the sample,eyes widened and mouth agape. This dynamic figure contrasts

49For example seeSutton et al., 1984: 300,313; Gudlaugsson, 1975; Sutton et al., 2003: 165-66. 50While this chapter disagreeswith some of Dixon's findings, it is important to acknowledgethat Dixon's comprehensiveresearch proving the correlation betweenuroscopy and female sexuality is invaluable and fundamental to this present study. 51A Follower of David Teniers (Mattheus van Helmont?), A Physician-AIchernist Examining a Urine Flask, date unknown, Wellcome Library, London 44733i. Oil on canvas,41.1 cm x 57.3 cm. Provenance:with the Wellcome collection by 1913 ('Handbook of the Historical Medical Museum', London: 1913, probably no. 105 "Ibe urologist"). Despite this attribution, the painter of this work is not known, although Vvrilliam Schupbachof the Wellcome Trust now credits Mattheus van Helmont with authorship. However, as this identity has not yet been officially recognized by the Wellcome Library this chapter, for clarity, maintains its given authorship.

119 significantly%ith the conventionalchyrnists of genrepainting who huddletightly over weighty tomesand smokingcrucibles. Within the frarne,the chyrnist'sbodily animation contrastsalso with the quiet stiffnessof the space,and in particular with the silent figure, cast in darkness,behind him. Obscuredby shadow,a womanstands apparently weeping, a black cloth held to her eyeswith her left hand. While the seatedmale chymistis turnedto the left of the canvas,the ciec femaleis turnedtowards the right, conformingto the pattern of male- femaleopposition characteristic of chymical genrepainting. Clothedin a white cap and collar, this emotionalfemale character is incongruousin this professional,male realm In stark contrastto the %%id1e-ýand openmale face of the chymist, this femalevisage is closed,half hiddenbehind a swatheof fabric. Her headis tilted down andher visible eye is shut; sheis the embodimentof fcrmlc distress. Althoughfuror uterinus could potentially explain the conditionof the patient.perhaps a moreobvious diagnosis is that of illegitimate pregnancy. The expressly fernale anguish. in addition to the scrutiny of the sample, undoubtedly contains connotations of uni&-antedpregnancy. This theme of fertility is echoed in the uniquely bulbous furnace breastýand the similarly womb-like stills, which are Prominently located and precisely executed throughout the painting. 52

53 A very similar configuration occurs in a painting held by the San Diego Museum of Art. An Alchemist (Fig. 4 1). which this thesis attributes to Mattheus van Helmont, replicates almost exactly the weeping female figure of A Physician-Alchemist Examining a Urine Flask. -4 A Prolific painter of alchemical genre scenes.Mattheus, van Helmont belonged to an extended family of NethcrLuxiish artists. m Son of a master painter, van Helmont was born in Antwerp in 1623, and reestcredaith the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke in 1645. In 1649 he married

'" Warlick. in particular, has acknowledgedthe "anthropomorphicfunction" of furnacesin alchemical Imagery and philosophy, writing that "a comparison between a woman's body and a furnace can be seen in an early eightccnth-ccntury engraving from Urban Hjlrne's Actonan chymicorum holmiensium published in Stockholm, 1712". She further observes that the alchemist's "careftil control of the furnace's hca4 in cffect, simulates a pregnancy". Warlick, 2W2: 188. 33 Nlatthcus van Hclmont (formerly attributed to David Ryckaert), An Alchemist, c. 1640, San Diego Muscurn of Art. Cal ifornia. Oil on canvas. 22 7/16" x 26 1/8". Provenance: gift of Mrs Henry A. Everett 1932.094. 54 This thesis considers San DiegWs attribution of this work to David Ryckaert inaccurate. Overall this Painting shares little st)iistically or compositionally with the alchemical work of Ryckaert. Although the characterization of the balding alchemist with a bushy grey beard recalls Ryckaert's alchemists, it, like the rest of the sccneýhis much more in common with the work of Matthcus van Helmont. Ile repetition of key Helmontian topoi (straw, distinctive chair and idiosyncratic earthenware pot) gives further %right to this thesis' attribution ofAn Alchemist to Mattheus van HclmonL In her study of David Teniers. Jane P. Davidson analyses this painting and attributes it to Teniers. In her discussion of the work. Davidson states that wreniers painted several other Alchemists in which he used the motif of the weeping %ife". Davidson. 1980: 42. She adds in the footnotes "only two other instances arc known in which David the Younger used this motif", Davidson, 1980: 127. In the course of extensive research. this thesis has been unable to identify any paintings by Teniers which include this motif. In correspondence %ith this author, Davidson has been unable to provide evidence in support of her assertion. 35 For a biography of van Helmont see Thiemc-Beckcr, 1996-97,16: 353.

120 MargarethaVerstockt. and in 1674 the family movedto Brussels,where van Helmontjoined the Guild of Painters. Fatheringfour children. the artist probably tutoredhis two painter sons, Jan and Gaspard. Stylistically his paintingsrecall the work of David Teniersthe Youngerand Adriaen Brouwer, while his subjectsfocus predominantlyon the professionsof alchemists, physiciansand craftsnrm Although van Helmont's alchemicallandscape is often characterizedby idiosyncraticwisps of straw, along with the frequentreduplication of recognizablepots, pans.books and furniture, his scenesare relatively diversein composition.

In An Alchemist a maleuroscopist and femalepatient occupy the foreground,while the backgroundteems with assistantsattending chymical operations. The agingalchemist ernulatesthe animationof his chyrnicalcounterpart in A Physician-AlchemistExamining a Urine Flask Onceagain. his arms outstretched,the chyrnistexamines a urinal as his sobbing, flushedpatient waits desperatelynearby. Like A Physician-AlchemistExamining a Urine Flask. An Alchemist has the centraltriangular formationtypical of van Helmont'salchemical smne&m Characteristically,the chymistis locatedin the centreof the canvasand represents the pinnacleof a structural triangle. The moundsof chymicaldebris, which originatein the lower cornersof the painting,envelop the eponymousfigure, forming the remainderof the compositionaltriangle. In nearly all of thesepaintings, this formula unequivocallydenotes the protagonistrole of alchemist. In both A Physician-AlchemistExamining a Urine Flask andAn Alchemist,however, the apexis extendedby the presenceof the weepingfemale, who standsover the seatedalchemist. Ostensibly,then, thesepaintings advance a new protagonist. Although the uroscopist.with long, grey beardand fur-trimmedrobes is distinct from the alchemistin A Physician-AlchemistExamining a Urine Flask the femalefigure is almost identical. Standingin the sameposition and dressedin the samesombre garb, the weeping womanin An Alchemistechoes her counterpart;her openeyes are the soledifference. An interesting additionto this paintingis the inclusionof a dog which lies prominentlyunder the chymist'schair. T'his is an unusualfeature in alchemicalgenre painting and night encourage the identificationof pregnancyin the portrayal of the weepingwoman. In Questionsof Meaning. Eddy dc Jonghexplores the emblematicsignification of dogsin genreart. Isolating the lasciviousmeaning of the dog, he writes that "dogs are very comrnonin the work of Jan Stem especiallyin his depictionsof dissipationand pregnantgirls'%57

m For example. this triangular compositional device is evident in Mattheus van Hc1mont, The Alchemist. date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.02; Mattheus van Helmont. A Savant in his Cabinet, 167-. The Wellcome library, London 45123i; Mattheus van ýýlmont. Interior Alchemist Seated in Centre, 16-, The Wellcome Library, London 45102i. , 7 mith an DeJongh. 2002: 37. While. of course, the inclusion of a dog in An Alchemist does not confirm the Pregnancy of the weeping female, it does contribute to the prevailing air of female sexuality in the painting.

121 A similar intrusion of femaledistress into a chyrnical spaceoccurs againin Egbert van Heernskcrckthe Younger'sMan Examining a Urine Flask (Fig. 42).m Bom in Haarlemin 1634/35,Egbert van Heemskerckwas an unusuallydistinctive painter of chymical scenes, having producednumerous paintings and etchingsof chymists,physicians and barber- surgeons.59 Probablytrained under Pieterde Grebber,Heernskerck lived in Haarlembetween 1653and 1655,before embarking for Italy. On his retum, the painter anddraughtsman lived mainly in Amsterdam,but is recordedliving near to The Haguein 1663and in Weespin 1667. A nomadicpersonality, Heemskcrck travelled Europe and eventuallysettled in Englandin 1674,spending most of his time in Oxford and London. His subjectsare typical of contemporarygenre painting and includewitchcraft, the Temptationof St. Anthony and Brouweresquescenes of peasantdrinkers. Tlr artist's depictionsof Quakermeetings in Englandconstitute his mostoriginal work. Egbert van Heemskerckdied in London in 1704, leavinga painter-actorson of the samename. Man Examining a Urine Flask is typical of the Heemskerckstyle. Like manyof his chyrnicalscenes, this painting includeshis signature creatureshanging hideously from the rafters. TheseTcnicrsian animals, which are characteristicof chyrnicalpaintings, are especiallygrotesque in Heemskerck'soeuvre, Possessingparticularly bulging eyesand monstrousmouths. Curiously,his creaturesare often non-aquaticand non-reptilian,such as bats, and are, at times,entirely fantastic. This characterizationextends to his humandepictions, which, throughjutting chin and protruding nose.afford a senseof caricature. Unimpededby tradition, Heemskerck'swork contains morefemale characters than mostchymical genre paintings. This accounts,in part, for the focal femalein JVanEzamining a Urine Flask.60 Characteristicof Heemskerck'schymical work, this vibrant paintingdepicts a centralmale uroscopist with a femalepatient in a large workspacecluttered with pharmaceuticalpots. The chyrnistis seatedpredictably at a desk,on which restsa large splayedbook. Atop his angular,scowling face, sits a red, ermine-trimmed cap. which contrastswith his otherwisesombre attire. With his right handhe holdsa urine flask towardsa latticedwindow, and with his left he graspsthe wrist of a young lady in an effort to readher pulse, As in A Physician-AlchemistEramining a Urine Flask the male turns his back to the female,emphatically compounding the senseof gendersegregation. The

53 Egbcrt van Hecmskerck.Atan Examininga Urine F&Isk,date unknown,Wellcome Library, London 44713i. Oil on canvas,63.5 cm x 76 cm. There were three successivegenerations of paintersin the van Heemskcrckfamily, eachnamed Egbcrt. Sharing similar stylesthese three paintersare often confusedby critics. For clarification, thesepainters are Egbert van HecmskcrckI or the Elder (1610- 80). Egbcrt van IfecrnskcrckH or the Younger (1634/35-1704)and Egbert van Heemskerck1H (1700- 44). Although the WellcomeLibrary is unsurewhich van Heemskerckpainted Man Examininga Urine FZaskthis thesisattributes it to Egbert van Heernskerck114 due to its resemblanceto his other chyrnicalpaintin gs held by the Chemical HeritageFoundation, Philadelphia. For more on the life Hecmskercksee Thieme-Becker, 1996-97,16: 226. 60 and works of A surveyof tkemskcrck's work held by the WellcomeLibrary revealsan abnormallyhigh Proportionof central femalecharacters in his blood-letting and physicianscenes.

122 slight fernalefigure. howcvcr.is the focal featureof the composition. With pale complexion, long bright red skirts and three-pointedhat. sheis certainly an unusualingredient in a chymical gmre picturc.61 With her headtilted down, sheraises her blue apronto her face, notably again with her left hand,echoing the gestureof anguishin A Physician-Alchemist Examining a Urine Rwk. To the right of the frame, a diminutive apprentice,using bellowsto fan a distillation, engagesthe viewer with a slightly mischievouslook. Behindthe boy, an old man with both a staff and walking stick descendsa short flight of steps. Theseperipheral characters,alongside the grotesquebeasts dangling from the rafters, contributeto an air of unreality.

The same grouping is evident in two paintings by Godfried Schalckcn, Visit to the Doctor (Fig. 43)u and Doctor's Visit (Fig. 44). 63 Serving apprenticeships under Samuel van Hoogstraten and Gerrit Dou4 Schalcken spent the first three years of his career in Leiden, returning to his native Dordrecht in 1665.64 Much of his early work, which includes both Wsit to the Doctor and Doctor's Visit, betrays the influence of Dou and the Leiden 'fine painters'. Inspired by Dou's devotion to academic subjects, the artist produced various visions of physiciansý imitating the style and form of his second master. While thesc earlier years reveal an interest in the small-scak ge= painting of his tutors, they also uncover a dedication to history painting. As his career evolved, Schalckcn enjoyed international success,accumulating significant wealth and fame. A celebrated portraitist to the court at WiixLsor. Schakken spent from 1692 to 1697 in England. Returning to the Netherlands, he settled in The Hague and died in 1706. In Visit to the Doctor, Schalcken reproduces the same kind of characterization manifcst in A Physician-Alchemist Examining a Urine Rmk, An Alchemist and Alan Examining a Urine Flask. Facing an open window at the left of the frame, the fancifully attired seatedphysician holds aloft a flask of reddish urine. Behind him, a standing lady is turned in the opposite direction, dabbing an eye with an apron held, again, in her left hand. Altlwugh Dixon suggeststhat the lady is a sufferer offiror uterinus, the characterization mects few of the conditions outlined by Perilous Chastity's extensive research. The critic's conclusion rests primarily on the fact that the woman's left arm is 65 raised to her breast. a gesture which n-dghtequally indicate distress. However, in Doctor's

61 Due to the difference in style and its general compositional incongruity, this thesis suggests the Citicnt's three-pointed hat to be a later addition. Godfried Schalcken. V11sitto the Doctor. 1669, Private Collection, Germany, on loan to Wallraf- Richartz-Muscum, Cologne. Oil on panel, 13 M" x 113/8". Signed and dated: 1669 G Schalken. '63 Ckdfried Schalckcn. Doctor's 114it, c. 1660-70, Royal Cabinet of Paintings, Mauritshuis, nie Hague 161. Oil on panel, 35 cm x 28.5 cm. Signed. G. Schalken. 6' For a comprehensive biography of Schalcken see Thieme-Becker, 1996-97,29: 569-7 1. 65 Another commentator suggests a possible correlation between the reddish urine and lovesickness, but also Pr(410scspregnancy as the patient's potential condition. Sutton, 1984: 300.

123 Visit, a comparablepainting examined by Perilous Chastity, Dixon converselyrecognizes unwantedpregnancy in an analogousdepiction of left-handedfemale anguish. In her description,she states:

The painting showsan otherwisehealthy girl weepingat a doctor's office. Sheis accompaniedby her angry father (or agedhusband), and an impishlittle boy who nukes a lewd handgesture. The urine flask held aloft by the physicianreveals the hazy imageof an infant floating within itý confirming pregnancyas the causeof the woman'sdistress. 66

YM while identifying the ailment,she continues, "for the most part, the subjectof pregnancy outsideof marriagewas rare. Its depictionin art would havebeen viewed by most peopleas offensive.even shocking7.67 Many historians,however, disagree; the sheerquantity of paintings.for cxamplcýportraying merry whoresfrolicidng with clients surelyundermines Dixon's assertionof Dutch sexualsensibilities in arL68Serving as visual sermons,subjects suchas drunkenpre- and extra-maritalsex simultaneouslyindulged male fantasy while Properlyoutraging Calvinist sensibilities.69 Although illegitimatebirth in the Dutch Republic was undoubtedlystigmatized, it is clear, evenfrom Dixon's research,that pre-marital pregnancywas periodicallythe subjectof genrepainting-70

As this thesis has thus far illustrated, women routinely represent a specifically 'female' quality in paintings of the chyinical workshop. A Physician-Alchemist Examining a Urine Flask, An Alchemist, Alan Examining a Urine Flask, Irtsit to the Doctor and Doctor's Visit are typical of countless paintings which sustain an allusion of gynaecology simply through the

66Dixon, 1995: 144-45. 67 Dixon, 1995: 145. Earlier in the text. Dixon argues that it is unlikely "that the scandal of unwed motherhood would have been publicly memorialized in so many paintings, even in the relatively Progressive Netherlands", Dixon, 1995: 7. This statement has already attracted some criticism. See PcIling. 1997: 85. " Consider, for example. Jan Steen, Couple in a Bedroom, c. 1668-70, Museum Bredius, The Hague; Hendrick Pbt, A Brothel Scene, 1630, National Gallery, London; Judith Leyster, The Proposition, 1621, Ittauritshuis, The Hague; Dirck van Baburen, The Procuress, 1622, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Recent criticism explores the boundaries of sexual sensibility in scventeenth-century genre art. Simon Schama. for example. also describes the "emphatic" eroticism of Steen's paintings of prostitutes in 'Housewives and Hussics: Homeliness and Worldliness' in Embanussment ofRiches, and contrasts the explicitness of Dutch genre art with the modesty of emblem books, Schama, 1991: 375480. For more On the sewnteenth-ccntury *'threshold of shame" see also de Jongh, 1968-69: 22-74; Ncvitt, 2003: 1- 20,106-11. See. in particular, Fegan, 2000: 109-35. " 71iis duality of *rnoralistic' paintings is explored to some extent by Eric Jan Sluijter in his analysis of Joachim Wtewael's seductive Diana andAcraeon, 1612. Sluijter, 1985: 61-72. 70130th K Rodney Nevitt Jr. and Paul Vandenbroeck call attention to the sixteenth- and seventeenth- century images of peasant weddings that ridicule the pregnant bride, Nevitt, 2003: 23 1; Vandcnbroeck, 1994: 79-124. Fur more on the status of illegitimate birth in early modern Netherlands see Nevitt, 2003: 6-7.162-63; Ozment. 1995: 14-15. For discussion of the lost painting by Jan Steen of a uroscopist and fcmale patient bearing the inscription. "Als ik my niet verzind is dcze Meid met Kind" (Unless I JLmmistaken. this girl is with child], see de Groot, 1907-28.

124 assimilationof a femalepatient. Howeverýthe weepingwomen in thesepaintings do not signifyfiror Werinus. Indeed4these characterizations have little in commonwith the iconographicallovesick maiden. All the weepingwomen stand, while Dixon has observed that sufferersoffuror uterinus are depicted"propped up in a chair or languishingin bed".71 Most often, theselovesick women are clearly incapacitated,unable to leavetheir chambers. 71ýeweeping women examined in this chapter.by contrast,are certainly fit enoughto venture into the chymical workshop. They are also simply, and typically drably, dressed,unlike the " well-dressed"casualty offiror uterinus who is "usually bundledunder several layers of coverletsor is wearinga fur-trimn-rd jacket coloredbright greenor blue, or most often, a warm shadeof peachor rose".72 Similarly, furor uterinus victims are always"pale and listless". a trait plainly absentin van Helmont's and Schalcken'sportrayals of their distinctly flushedpaticnm"

Failing to fit the criteria forfiror uterinus, the weeping women of chymical paintings are neither dressed nor positioned as traditional 'lovcsick maidens'. Indeed, the erect and4 therefore, physically able women in A Physician-Alchemist Ezamining a Urine Flask An Alchemist and Atan Ecamining a Urine Flask do not show any appearanceof ill health. It is the contention of this chapter. therefore, that this motif of the weeping woman is in fact embk:matic of illicit pregnancy. 7bc diagnosis of pregnancy, rather thanjiuror uterinus, has special sigrtif icance within a chymical context! 4 The gestating female, as the previous section suggests, is a symbol central to chyrnical philosophy, describing the incubation of the Philosophers' Stone or Thilosophical Child'. In her analysis of alchemical fertility emblems, Warlick observes, "alchernical texts make frequent referencesto the conception and growth of this child as paralleling natural processesof pregnancy and birth as they have been understood since classical times"ý" Identifying images of female fertility in literature and iconography, Warlick expounds the significance of the pregnant woman in alchemical symbology in a brief analysis of Atalanta Fugiens' Emblem XXH (Fig. 23). Introduced in the previous chapter, this illustration has generatedexhaustive academic debate. Depicting a pregnant woman tending a fire. the emblem expressesthe albedo stage of the opus. Warlick notes that "her Pregnancyagain mirrors the incubation that takes place in the vessel to form the Philosopher's Stmeýý Interestingly, in her study of the emblem. Jayne Archer recognizes the significance of Maier's -Women's WorV not simply in the performance of housewifely duties, but in the

7'Dixon. 1995: 1. 72Dixon 1995- 1. 73 Dixon: 1995': 1. 74 For more on the paullels implicit to paintings of chymistry and uroscopy see Wolf, 2001: 223. 73Warlick. 2002: 187. 76Warlick. 2002: 190.

125 necessarilyfernale labour of gestating"the alchemical'foetus'". 77 Undoubtedlythen, the inclusionof the pregnantfemale in a chyrnicalcontext has specialresonance. Whereas the weepingfeimle initially appearsinconsistent with her male surroundings,alchemical philosophyoffers specificcongruity. Indeed,the occurrenceof this fertility themealongside femaletears compounds the chyrnicalaRusion. Tears, which haveseveral alchemical meanings,are evokedvividly in Sir GeorgeRipley's 'Cantilena'. Here,the Queen,who is " greatwith chikr, "bath'd herselfwith the Teares;which shehad shed".78 The resemblance of this imageto thosedelineated by the later genreartists, affords the attendanceof the weepingpregnant women even greater chymical significance. Theseaccunwlated references thereforeconfum the paintings' chyrnicalspace as oneof generation.

2.2 The Homunculus

This themeof generationassumes auxiliary significancein Doctor's Visit, as pregnancyis not necessarilythe soleimplication of the floating miniature. Although Perilous Chastity providesa conclusiveand comprehensiveanalysis of Doctor's Visit, Dixon's interpretationof Prcgnancyrests principally on a singledistinguishing feature: the hazy presenceof a tiny humanfigure within the sample. Ironically, however,it is this preciseinclusion which Potentiallyfuels the ambiguityof suchscenes. In the seventeenthcentury the hornunculus,or Miniatureman, in a sarnplewould undoubtedlyhave signified pregnancy, just as tiny dogs would indicaterabies. 79 But within a chymicalcontext the presenceof the homunculus transcendspure gynaecology.Throughout the early modernperiod, the mythologized homunculusw-As of immensealchernical significance. 80 A symbolof the Philosophers'Stone, the homunculus,like the infant discussedin ChapterH, is an integralpart of ancient alchemicallore. While it servesseveral functions on a purely metaphoricalplane, the homunculusis, concurrently,a very literal componentof exotericalchemy. By the seventeenthcentury. the physicalhorrmnculus resonated as a specificallyParacelsian principle. In an archetypalgrand gesture, Paracelsus claimed to haveartificially createda little manin an alcmbic. The powcrfuL pseudo-matcrnalrelationship between the homunculusand alchemistis describedin the Paracelsiantreatise De Vita: "a hornunculusis generatedlike in all respects in body, blood, principal and inferior members to him from

77 Archer, 1999: 5. xi. 73'Cantilena' in Incipit TractandusdephenicesivedeLapidephilosophico, L4Dndon,British library, Additional hIS 11,388, Collection Francis Ilynne, (stanza 188). Cited in Abraham, 2001: 198. " of Si9crist. 1946: 13643. go For mom on the alchemical homunculus see the work of William PLNewman, in particular Newman, 1999: 321-345; Newman. 20()4: 164-236.

126 whom it issued"." Fashionedin a flask from humanseed, the homunculusrepresents an evolvedhumanity, improving on man,just as alchemicalgold improveson natural gold. With higher intellectualpo%rrs and spiritual status,the diminutive figure in alchemicaltradition representsthe Christ child. As an alchemicalconcept, the homunculushad a remarkablywide recognition. Europeanliterature of the sixteenthcentury and beyondreveals broad lay appreciationof the subject. Famously,Shakespeare's Sonnet ONIV evokesthe imageof the chymicalhomunculus in a debateover truth and flattery:

Or whethershall I say mine eyesaith truth, And that your love taught it this alchemy, To indigest makeof monsters,and thingsC, Such cherubinsas your sweetself reseMble.22

Comprehension of the chymical concept was widespread and further literary expressions designed for the uninitiated include Goethe's Faust, in which the protagonist attempts to create a homunculus in a scenepurportedly based on Paracelsus' De Natura Rerum. 83 Achieving such currency in the public imagination, the homunculus must surely have evoked the alchemical realm in the mind of a seventeenth-centuryviewer. Sans nzater, the creation of the homunculus by the adept is a quintessentially male process, in which the mother is supplanted, even negated4by the father. A painting, then. which may be viewed initially as unambiguously feminine is transmuted into a wholly male vision.

The dichotornic nature of the chyrnical homunculus is encapsulatedby a painting by David Ryckaert III. " David Ryckaert, whose life and works are introduced in greater detail in Chapter IV. was born in Antwerp in 1612." Specializing in genre scenes,Ryckaert produced some of the most accomplished and unique chyrnical paintings of the seventeenthcentury. An unusually atmospheric work. Scholar with Homunculus in Glass Vial (Fig. 45) depicts a small space, possibly a physician's study or chyrnical workshop, and anticipates later eighteenth-century romanticized alchmnical visions, such as Joseph Wright of Derby's celebratedAlch)wtist in Search of the Philosopher's Stone Discovers Phosphorus. A single candle. the solitary light source, rests on the chyrr"t's desk, casting vast, menacing shadows Onto the wall behind the two central f igures. Dramatically illuminating a skull, globe and

Paracclsus.1924: 334. Shakespeare.Sonnet CXIV. Wells and Taylor ed, 1995:765. 83Gray. 1952.206-14. " David Ryckaert.Scholar with Hotnumculusin Glass Vial, c. 1649,on loan to RciB-Muscumder Stadt ?,UnnheinL (Propertyof the LAndBaden-WUrttembcrg, loan of the StaatlichcKunsthallc Karlsruhe). Oil Onpanel. 59.1 cm 78.8 cm. Provenance:Mannheim. Schloss,GroBhcrzoglichc GemUdegaleric. '5 x As the work of David R)ckacrt III forms the foundationof ChapterIV, an extendedbiography and introduction to his -*wk can be found there. SeeChapter IV: 156-58.

127 tipped pharmacypot, the goldenflame revealsa bereted,fur-trimmed chymist,to the side of whom standsan agedwormuL Crouchingin the lower right comer of the painting a young child inflatesa bLukkr, in an emblematicexpression of vanitas. Eyebrowsarched and mouth agape,the chymist staresincredulously at the flask he holds in his left hand. The withered woman.with greyingcap and apron, claspsher handsand lowers her headin a posewhich rnimicspious supplication. Togetherthey gazeinto the glass vial which clearly holds a tiny, skeletal.human figure. ' Its arms outstretchedtowards the giant face of the chymistýthe homunculusis an animatedmanikin with its headinclined towards his seemingcreator. There is no indicationhere that the flask, as in Doctor's Wisit,contains a urine sample. There is no young.ailing patientto suggesteither pregnancyor illness and thereis no evidentflask basketto indicatethe transportationof a sample. Instead,a highly sensationalized composition,Scholar %*h Homunculusin Glass Wal presentsan alternativereading of the homunculusin a scenecharged with chyrnicalsignificance. 87 However,while the Paracelsian themeof the homunculusis certainly implicit in Ryckaert'swork. the ambiguitiesof the scene raise.rather than resolve.issues of subjecL The chyrnist'sexpression might equally express eitherhorror at the disco-,try of pregnancyin an old womanor awe at havingcreated the chymicalhomunculus.

2.3

In its survey of three similar paintings, this section has examined the uroscopist of the

chYmical workshop, exploring the potential trawrnutation of the traditional alchemical womb imagery into genre art. A Physician-Alchemist Emmining a Urine Flask An Alchemist and

Alan Examining a Urine Flask betray no evidence of thefuror uterinus so common to

paintings of the maiden's sickroom. Instead4 the gynaecic symbology encompassed by any seventeenth-century portrayal of female uroscopy is here subtly manipulated towards a more

exacting allusiorL Po%%=ftUY compounded by the theme of generation at the core of

chymical cultural tradition. these weeping women inevitably insinuate pregnancy. Imbued

with a prevailing sense of female fertility, these paintings of the male iatrochernist and fermle

Patient feasibly maintain the ancient iconographical tradition of the alchemical family

explored in Chapter 11of this thesis. Potential. ly, then, the prevalent weeping woman of genre

painting. then, is another complex reincarnation of the White Queen and Philosophical Child.

"'I'lie alchemical homunculus is sonxtimes depicted as a tiny skeleton in alchemical literature. See, for example 11cinrich Xhunrath's *Trcuhertzige Wahrnungs-Vermahnung an alle wahre Alchymisten, sich vor den bctrilgetischen Arg-Chymisten zu huten' which also describes the homunculus' Predilection for velvet sleeping bags and chairs. Kbunrath, 1708: 280-81. With thanks to Hereward Tilton. " lrhc small child in the lower right corner may be perceived as a traditional alchemical emblem of the Philosophers' Stonc. thus reinforcing a potential chymical reading of the work.

128 In an exceptionalmutation of the uroscopictheme, however, Ryckaert offers two conflicting genderedreadings in his provisionof the homunculus. The uniquely malevision describes awe-inspiringscientific and spiritual triumph in the depictionof wholly paternal propagation.88 Conversely,the femalevision expressesthe natural triumph of the mother. Ryckacrt's appropriationand manipulationof a themealready burdened with ambiguity typifies the methodologiesof alchemicalartists. In all thesepaintings, the intricate complexitiesand contradictionsof alchemyare visually manifestin scenesof the chymical- uroscopist:little is cxpliciL yet so much is impliedL In a uniqueexpression of the elixir, Ryckacrt's hermaphroditicand paradoxicalvision of sirrmltaneouslymale and female quintessenceis a triumph of alchemicalart and its essentialmysticism. As the final chapterof this thesissuggests. the impact of Ryckaert'spaintings depends not on explicit delineationof Subject.but Converselyon latentýembryonic insinuation of theme.

Uroscopic Emblemata in an Alcbenfical Tradition

3.o

Interpreting the female as a symbol of fertility, the preceding section illustrates the way in which artists depicting the iatrochemical workshop embraced the alchemical tradition of reiteration and refcrencr- Resuming this train. the remainder of this chapter explores the development of a motif specific to uroscopic genre art. Reviewing the work of Gerard Thomas and Balthasar van den Bossche. this section uncovers the iconographical Red King and Blue Queen central to dozens of uroscopic-chymical genre paintings. Offering a potential source for this image. this study demonstrateshow the governing conventions of ancient alchemical art forms are maintained within the context of seventeenth-centurygenre painting. In a"tion. this section traces the devolution of this motif and the gradual disintegration of its regulating conventions.

It is important to enter a cautionary note. Significant doubt lingers over the authorship of many of the paintings discussed in this segment. Both the Weflcome Library and the Chemical Heritage Foundation possessworks attributed to Gerard Thomas and Balthasar van dcn Bossche. However, it is recognized by members of both institutions that this cataloguing is potentially incorrect. For the purposes of this thesis, works which have been signed wiH be

" For mcre on the connotationsof male domination implicit in the conceptof the homunculussee Newman. 1998:219-20; Allen and Hubbs,1980- 213.

129 acknowledgedaccordingly. Exampleswhich havebeen accredited alternately to both Thomas and van den Bossche%ill be identifiedin line with the holder's current ascription. Stylistically similarýThomas and van den Bosschewere both worldng towardsthe end of the seventeenthcentury and during the early yearsof the eighteenth.Born, in Antwerp in 1663, GerardThomas %-as a pupil of Godfried Nlaesin 1680,registering with the Guild of St. Luke in 1688/89." A gcnrcand portrait painter of somerepute. Thomas took as his subjectthe alchemist*slaboratory and artist's studio. Interestingly,Thomas' leaningtowards chyrnistry in his paintingshas beenattributed to the artist's own training in alchemy.90 Also bom in Antwerp, N-anden Bosscheicas oneof Thomas' numerouspupils. 91 After leavinghis master's studio he travelledand workedin Francebefore rnoving back to Antwerp in 1706. Like Thomas,van den Bosschespecialized in genrepainting. but he also producedhistorical scenesand portraits, along with an occasionalrniniature. Specializingin the portrayal of professions,van den Bosscheirritated his masterin subjectas well as style, depicting chymists,doctors, and artists to acclairm Mv rcrnarkablesirnilarity betweenthe works of this mastcr and pupil is %idely acknowlcdged and the causc of cxtcnsive misattribution.

It is also iniportant to noteat this juncture that few paintingsby 71oxnasand van denBosschc arc datcdLIn this final part. threepaintings by eitherthe artists or their Mowers are usedto trace the evolutionof a gendcredmotif. While noneof thesepaintings is officially dated,with the collaborationof externaladvisors. these three works havebeen placed confidently within a basicchronological order.

3.1 Science

Unsurprisingly, the reduplication of symbols, characters and then-cs is common in the paintings of 7bomas and van den Bossche. While the artists borrow newly invented components from each other's work. like all alchemical genre artists they also draw from an established network of reference. Attributed alternately by the Chemical Heritage Foundation to either Tbomas or van den Bossche,Science (Fig. 46) exemplifies the artists' general dependenceon purloined elements." Significantly, this work illustrates the custom of duplicating entire scenes;representative of several paintings, Science is almost identical to

" For a comprehensive biography of Thomas sce'Mieme-Becker, 1996-97,33: 62-63. "'Mierne-Beckcr. 1996-97,33: 62. 91 Forabiograph y of van den Bossche sceltiemc-Beckcr, 1996-97.4: 401. 92 In the U)IC of Gerard Thomas. Scknce, late seventeenth century, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.0l. W. Oil on canvasýmounted on board. 32" x 48% Provenance: gift of Fisher Scientific International; Sotheby`sýLondon. 26 April 1929, lot 110; Lord Acton.

130 van den Bossche'sPhysician in his Study (Fig. 47)" and TbomasA PhysicianEramining a Urine Fkzsk#1 (Fig. 48)." Specifically,Science and its companionsrepresent the earliest inclusionsof a genderedmotif developedthrough this late seventeenth-centurypartnership. Recurring%ith significant frequencyin the uroscopic-chymicalpaintings of Thomasand van den Bossche.the centraLcharacter-based motif of Scienceforms the basisfor the following study.

71iis thesiscontends that Sciencewas producedin the late seventeenthcentury, probably around 1690. Including numerousTenicrsian elements the painting was clearly executed post-1670. However.Science contains strong indicationsof a pre-1700 genesis. The backgroundof the paintingis unmistakablyevocative of the seventeenthcentury. A traditional seventeenth-=tury scene,the workshopincludes a host of auxiliary workersand apprentices,fuelling separatedistillations and experiments.Typically. the room is segregated into different %%ork areas. Thereare few fernalecharacters and, significantly,the overall appeaz-anceis one of murmiane,everyday activity. Although the scenecontains formulaic chyrnical motifs, they are arranged in an unobtrusive manner the reptile dangling from the ceiling is esscntiaBy inconspicuous, %hile the head peeping through the wooden hatch is easy to miss. This quiet assimilation of motifs is typical of seventeenth-centurygenre painting. As this chapter wiH show. by the first decadeof the eighteenth century, chymical genre paintings had become notably self-conscious. The subject developed an overt sentimentalism, which Pastichedtraditional chyndcal syn-bols in a manner completely absent from Science.

Perhapsthe key indicationthat Sciencebelongs to the seventeenthcentury is the configuration Of the ChYmist.Tbe structureof the sceneadheres closely to a scventeenth-century conventionwhich becameless comrnon into the eighteenthcentury. In its arrangementof the centralcharacters. Science creates a clear triangular shapereminiscent of van Helmont's alchemicalscenes. Me van Hclmont's paintings,Science positions the chyrnistin the centre Of the:canvas, as the pinnacleof a structural triangle,which reachesfrom the two lower cornersof the framr- The raisedurinal extendsthe apexof the triangle,identifying the chYMistas the protagonist. This constructionbecame increasingly rare into the eighteenth century. Aside from the inclusionof the femalepatient, there is no possibility of subsidiary narrative.in the cightecrithcentury the chyrnist'sworkshop was frequentlyexploited as a vehiclefor other.often nostalgicthernes. Here. however, routine chymistry is the primary

93 Dalth.2car van den Bossche. Physician in his Study, late seventeenth century, Wellcome Library, London 47325i. Oil on canvasý86 CM X 120.5 cm- '" Gerard Ibmus. A physician Examining a Urine Flask #I, late seventeenth century, Weflcomc Library. London 47322i. Oil on canvas, 69.5 cm x 87.6 cm. Signed: G. Thomas-

131 thane of the paintin& In sununary,therefore, Science is entirely characteristicof the final decadesof the seventeenthcentury.

Depictinga landscapeview of a thriving workshop,Science is rerniniscentof countless seventeenth-centurych)rmical gwre paintings,but is principally evocativeof David Teniers. This -*bolly familiar, fonmlaic sceneis comprisedahnost entirely of 'borrowed' elements from earlier, mainly Tcniersian,paintings. I'lie two elongatedanimal skulls which adornthe wall towardsthe right of the frame occur in nunxix)usworks by Teniersand later chymical painters. An Alchemist's Liboratoe by a follower of Teniersincludes the precise arrangementof portablefurnace, distinctive detailed brick furnaceand skulls, while Teniers' Alchemist featuresother individual compositionalclcments. 96 The dark-cappedassistant with tan leathersmock in the backgroundof Sciencewith the large pestleand mortar appears earlier in An Alchemist's Laboratory by a follower of David Teniers,as well as in Teniers' Alchemist in his WorksW7 and again in Thomas'Alchemist. 98 The specificarrangement of the peepinghead, Tenicrsian iguana and shelvingin the upper quarterof the paintingcan be found originally in Thomas'Alchemist. The distinctivedistillation of Sciencealso recursin this early group of paintings. In the lower left foregroundis the combinedapparatus of a cucurbit, alernibic,portable balneum Marie and Moor's head.99 While this arrangementof equipment.probably sourcedfrom the work of David Teniers,appears in innumerablegenre scenes.it recursuith especialregularity in paintingsof the chymical-uroscopist.The exploitationof earlier efforts in the creationof iatrochemical.scenes typifies the developmentalprocesses central to chyrnicalarL Regardlessof its contrived,composite natum Science.unlike manycomparable paintings, improbably maintains cohesion, melding its disparateelements into a single.unified vision. Its mostunlikely triumph, however,lies in the seamlessabsorption of its centralmotif, a genderedimage which capturesthe essenceof ChYrnicalsymbology ubile adheringto an alchernicaliconographical convention of reiteration and refierence

" Follower of David Tenicrs, An Alchemist's Laboratory, date unknown,Chemical Heritage Foundation Phila&lphi&00.03.18. iQers, "David 7heAlchemist,date ChemicalHcritageFoundation, Philadelphia 00.01.286. "David unknown, Teniers.Alchemist in his Workshop,date unknown,Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia00.03.23. "Gerard 710mas. 7he Alchemist.date unknown.Chemical HeritageFoundation, Philadelphia 00-01.283. " The 'balncum hfarie' or 'bain-marie'%-asreportedly invented by Maria the Jewess.Still usedin kitchenstoday. the 'bain-maric' was essentiallya doubleboiler, a vesselof hot water into which was Placeda further receptacle.Ibis processenabled the slow and gentle heatingof liquids. The Moor's headwas a cur*vd vesselor lid usedin the distilling process.

132 Featuringin severalextant iatrochernicalpaintings, the centrcpieceat the heart of the scene was exploitedby artists far into the eighteenthcentury. Drapedupon a table is a rich red and blue oriental carpet.a stapleof Netherlandishgenre scenes. Objects sitting on the rug include an inkwell with quills, scrolls and books,and a Galenictext proppedopen, resting against a terrestrial globe. On the groundclose to the deskstands a large celestialglobe, decorated ornatelywith a bear,scorpion and other constellations.The primary componentof this motif, however,is the couplestanding amongst this jumble of paraphernalia.Within the distinctly chymicalcontext, a physicianconducts a uroscopy,tilting a flask of urine towardsthe unseen fight. His eyesraised to the red-tintedsample and his left handheld palm up, this white- hairedchyrnist is a portrait of scholarlyscrutiny. lUs is an unusuallyostentatious figure: the bright red and blue of his scholarlyrobes and cap resonatepowerfully with the equally vibrant carpeL The colourly intrusionof the carpet into the chymist's clothing compoundshis dominancein the space.increasing his senseof authority. Besidethe chymiststands a woman.probably the patient. Mirroring her malecounterpart, she peers out from a thin, white cap to the sampleheld aloft. Reflectingthe iatrochemist'sexpression of gravity, her mouthis turneddownwards and her brows are gathered.From her arm hangsa flask basket and4as with manyof thesecharacterizations, her handsare folded in front of her waist. She wearsa tawny-coloureddress, with lacedetail collar. Tied about her middleis a distinctive blue apron; as the fight catchesthe folds of the apron,it seemsto illuminatea bulge, suggestiveof a pregnantswollen beUy. Finally, the characterizationis completedby bright red cuffs and shocsýwhich corresponddynamically to the tonality of the chyrnistand carpet, compoundingthe cohesionof this complexcomposite scene. The mirroring of expressionand Position,together with the equivalenceof statureand chromaticempathy, promotes an unusualatmosphere of equilibrium. The genderdivision emanatingfrom portrayalsof weepingwomen and detacheduroscopists is herereplaced with reconciliationand harmony.

Tilis genderedmotif of the red and blue uroscopistand patientoccurs with someadaptation in two paintingsheld by the ChemicalHeritage Foundation and at leastsix in the Wellcome 100 Library. Numerousodx: rs are held by museumsand galleries,and in private collections aroundthe world.101 The motif is frequentlyincorporated in its entiretywith globes,Galenic: Or Ilippocratic text and carpetarranged with preciseadherence to the compositionof Science. VVWICthe sourceof this populardoctor-paticnt motif cannotbe tracedwith convictionin

100 Tbese paintings include Gerard Thomas, A Physician Examining a Urine-Flask, date unknown, Wellcome Ubrary. LA)ndon44744i. Oil on canvas, 563 cm x 46.8 cnL 101 These include Gerard Thomas, 7he Alchemist's Workshop, date unknown, Gallcria Varotto, Rome; After Gerard Dou, Old Woman with a Doctor, date unknown, Hermitage, St. Petersburg 889.

133 genreart, its remarkableresonblance to an immenselypopular alcheirkal imageoffers an interestingtheory as to its development.

3.2 The Splendor Solis

In its conclusion.Chapter H of this thesisintroduces Plate IV of the beautifully illustrated sixteenth-centurytreatise the SplendorSolis (Fig. 35). Existing in variousforms, the 102 SplendorSolis containsprobably the mostbeautiful of all alchemicaliflustrations. The earliestversion, believed to datefrom 1532-35,is a finely wrought manuscript,consisting of tiavnty-twohighly ornateplates. 1c3 Together these symbolically relate the elementsand Processesof the magnumopus in a typically cryptic manner. Elevenearly copiesof the SPlendorSolis survive in wAriousforms and languages,indicating the extentand variety of its production. Capturingthe marriageof opposition,Plate IV depictsthe meetingof the Solar King and Lunar Queenin the mostfinely executedrepresentation of the chyrnicalmarriage in cxistenm 7"hiscelebrated illustration offers a uniqueangle through which to understandthe red and blue doctor-paticntmotif in the paintingsof Thomasand van denBossche.

The magnificent,majestic coupling presented by the SplendorSolis bearsstrildng resemblanceto the humbledoctor-patient construct of genrepainting. TaldngScience as a modeLthe following analysisexpounds the relationshipbetween the red andblue doctor- Patientmotif and the Red Sol King and Blue Luna Queenof the famousPlate IV.

The most obvious parallel betwccn the two couples is their positioning- the male and female in both compositions are situated centrally. with the woman on the left and the man on the right. In both configurations. the couples stand, they are not physically touching, but are turned in-awdly towards one another. Although this physical arrangement is typical of emblematic alchemical art in rnanuscripts, it is surprisingly rare in early modern Netherlandish painting. This parallel in the physical positioning of the sexesextends to the individual portraits of the malc and female. The Lunar Queen and Science's female patient,

"72Berlin. PrcussischcrKulturbesitz StaatlicheMuseen Kupferstichkabinett, MS 78 D3 (1531-32); Nuernbcrg.Germanischcs Nationatmuseum. NIS 146766(1550); Paris,Bibliotheque Nationale, MS Cicrman113 (1577). London, British Library, Harley NIS 3469 (1582); Switzerland,Private Collection (1582); Kassel.Landcsbibliothek. MS 8vo Chym. 21 (1584-88);Berlin, StaatsbibliothekPreussischer Kulturbcsitz, tjs Germ. fol. 42 (c. 1600);Amsterdam. Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 304 (seventeenthcentury). In addition threeearly copiesexist without illustrations: WolfenbUttel,Herzog Augustbibliothck.Cod. Guelf. 43 Aug. 4to. (1578); Leiden, University Library, Cod. Voss.Chym. Q. 17. (1589-95); Prague.Archive Wadschin,MS 1663,0.19 (probablyend of sixteenthcentury). With thanks to Adam McLzan. 103Trismosin. SplendorSalis. Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz Staatlichc Museen Kupferstichkabinett, MS 78 D3 (1531-32).

134 for example.both appearpregnant. with bulging bellies. Crucially. the paletteof red and blue employedin the seventeenth-centurydepiction of the patient and doctor is sharedby the SplendorSolis. The red and blue robesof the Red King resonatepowerfully with the garb of the physician.%bile the sameidios)mcratic colours; appear in the dressof the Queenand patient. Theseanalogous features occur in every known colouredversion of the Splendor Solis and in countlessrcconfigurations, of the ThomasIvanden Bosschedoctor-patient motiE Thematically.of course.the two illustrationsalso sharethe fundamentalallusion to fertility; as the uroscopyof the doctor and patientalludes to the generationof the child, so too the conjunctio of Sol and Luna alludesto the gericrationof the PhilosophicalChild. Thomas' interestin alchemyand the uide reputeof the SplendorSolis in the seventeenthcentury certainly allo-ai the conjecturethat the genremotif evolvedfrom this chymicalsource. Jacquesvan Lennep,having researched all surviving early versions,has commented on their wide appeaLcontemporary popularity and longevity. Noting that Trismosin'swork was "trýs r6Put6r.dýs le XVI* si&W*.104 Lennep suggests, "ce manuscrit,&s qu'il fut enlumind,jouit d'unc trts grander6putation, si l'on cn juge par Ic nornbrede sescopies jusqu'au XVIII* SW16".105 Considering the reputationof the text. Thomas' reputedrole as an alchemistand the conten4mrazylay interestin alchemy,it is feasiblethat thesegenre artists drew directly from the SplendorSolis.

Although the Splendor Solis h)Vothesis is, of course, speculative, it is clear that the earliest genre incarnations of the motif are more emphatically chymical in construct than those of later eighteenth-century painting. Essentially. earlier manifestations, like that of Science, adhere to patterns of construction which reflect chymical. traditions and philosophies; chromatic. formal and theoretical balances are consistently maintained in accordance with the ancient traditions of alchemical emblematic art. Naturally, this study recognizes the wider context of the doctor-patient ensembleand acknowledgesthat its conspicuous success undoubtedly derived primarily from its de Lairessian emotional content, narrative quality and combined sexual and moralistic subtext. 106However. the significance of the image to this study lies principally in its mutation from and evolution within a chymical context; its fragrrentation and eventual extinction uniquely chart the gradual derniseof chymical painting and the formal constructs contained therein.

104 Translation: -vcry famous as of the sixteenth century. " Van Lcnnep, 1990: 111. 'as Translation: -Ibis manuscript, as soon as it was illuminated, enjoyed a great reputation, if one judges by the number of copies made up until the eighteenth century. " Van Lennep, 1990: 111. 06 Scvtmtccnth-ocntury Netherlandish theorist Odrard de Lairesse locates artistic proficiency in the successful portrayal of multifaceted human emotion, de Lairesse, 1707. In his article on de Iairesse, ClAus Kemmcr intimates that scenesof sicluD= uroscopy offer the genre artist a unique vehicle for the communication of such "driftige beweeginge" [intense emotions], Kernmer, 1998: 87-115.

135 The following sectionthus surveysthe corruption of the doctor-patient imagein paintings that reflect the changingsensibilities of the Netherlands.

3.3 A Physician Examining A Urine Flask #2

An early corruption of the genderedemblem occurs in a painting signedby Gerard Thomas. A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 (Fig. 49) appearsto have beenproduced on the cusp of the eighteenthcentury. 107 Neither strongly indicative of the seventeenthnor eighteenth century, this scenebroadly conformsto seventeenth-centuryconventions of composition while incorporating motifs suggestiveof the eighteenth. While A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 containsmany of the elementsof Science,they are arrangedin a less cohesive manner. The large furnace in the backgroundis unusually maroonedin the middle of the room; in seventeenth-centurydepictions of workshops,permanent furnaces are located against walls. Additionally, the Italianate column in the near-centreof the painting is atypical of seventeenth-centurySouthern Netherlandish chyrnical paintings. Likewise, the Roman bust included on the left fringes of the sceneis also highly irregular. The integration of such alien componentsusually reflects an eighteenth-centurydisinterest in the boundaries establishedby the paintings of the previous century.

The insertion of additional focal female figures is also generally indicative of a later date. With an increasednumber of prominent people,the focus has shifted from the chymist to the relationshipsbetween the charactersand their implicit dialogue. This modification reflects the narrative quality typical of later chymical paintings. Additionally, the structural precision of Sciencehas beenreplaced by a more organic arrangement,which also anticipatesthe liberal approachof eighteenth-centurychymical artists. Thomas' work, therefore,represents the origins of eighteenth-centuryromanticization, in which the pretenceof 'everyday' life is abandonedcompletely. However, while A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 includes selecteighteenth-century signifiers, the overall scenemaintains the allusion of the traditional seventeenth-centuryworkshop: the dimensions,decoration and organization of the workshop are characteristicof the seventeenthcentury. Consideringthis amalgamation,this thesis suggeststhat A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 was painted around 1700.

107GerardIbomas, A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2, c. 1700, Wellcome Library, London 45026i. Oil on canvas, 68.4 cm.x 85.5 cm. Signed: G. 7homas. Fecit. Provenance:formally accessionedinto Wellcome collection I May 1947; Christie's stencil 257 DJ; Lord Ashbrooke's Collection I November 1847.

136 A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 portrays a key stagein the evolution of the doctor- patient motif, essentiallyrepresenting the transition betweenseventeenth- and eighteenth- century perceptionsof alchemyand uroscopy. In this example,all elementsof the icon are retained,yet rearranged. The setting sharessome similarity to Science,with numerous assistantslabouring in the backgroundtowards various chymical endeavours.Two distinguishing featuresof the painting are a sculpturedbust and a red-cappedchild assistant 108 carrying a clay vesselin the lower right corner. The critical differencebetween the paintings, however,is in the relocation and rearrangementof the key doctor-patientmotif. Undermining the compositionalconventions of the Splendor Solis, A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 transfersthe key male and female figures from a central to marginal position. The uroscopist is no longer standing,but is seatedat a desk bearing the standardcelestial globe, imported carpet, scroll and large Galenic tome. Raising the urine flask with his right hand and gesturingwith his left, the upper body of Thomas' chymist replicatesthe protagonist in Science. However, this similarity extendsonly so far, as the bodily equilibrium evidenced in Scienceis replacedby awkward and asymmetriccontortion. The uroscopist's torso is strikingly twisted, with his head and feet pointing in oppositedirections; his red slipperedfeet and kneespoint towards the right of the frame, while his face cranestowards the left. Lingering in his shadow,the femalepatient is just within the chymist's eye-line. While the claspedhand gesture,hanging flask basket, frilly white collar and blue apron are elements typical of such characterization,much of the female figure has beentransformed. As she starestowards the bulbous flask. her expressionno longer conveysanxiety, but apparent passivity. Facing the open window, the light catchesher apron, illuminating the same abdominalarea emphasizedin Scienceand the Splendor Solis. The bulge, however, is newly exaggerated;the claspedhands above the belly and profiled positioning reinforce the allusion of pregnancy.

While the defining elementsof the original motif are preserved,their reorganization underrninesthe equilibrium inherentto Scienceand its replicas. Whereasin Sciencethe focal arrangementof the doctor and patient reinforcesthe unity of the composition, their positioning in A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 disrupts the balanceof the entire painting. As the uroscopist is bodily opposedto the patient, so too is the patient newly repelledby the uroscopist. Where in Science,and indeedthe Splendor Solis, the couple are habitually pulled towards eachother, here both are inclined to polar directions, with the

logThis vessel-bearing,red-capped child figure occurs in several reincarnations, for example, in Balthasar van den Bossche,The Alchemist in his Workshop,date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.29 and School of David Teniers, Standing Alchemist in his Laboratory, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.266. The character also appearsin both'Momas' and van den Bossche'snon-alchemical work.

137 patient gravitating towards the window. The innate equality of the original coupling is corrupted further through posture:as the male sits, the female standsand wherehe is in front, she is behind. This fundamentallyunbalanced pair echoesthe conflictive couplings of those discussedin Chapter I, rather than the symbolic genderedsynthesis of the Splendor Solis. This division of the sexesis fortified by the introduction of a previously unseenfigure. Standingbehind the chymist is anotherwoman, presumablythe patient's chaperoneor mother. Deckedin sombregarb, this wizenedwoman wears a black hat and dark dress, fading somewhatinto the background. An unremarkableand ostensiblyminor figure, this additional female fatally disrupts the genderbalance, confirming a new segregationand disorder operating within the modified motif.

Simultaneously,as the repositioningof thesecore charactersinterrupts their equilibrium, it also underminesthe dramatic tensionof the scene. As the emphasizedbelly intimates the subject, the presenceof the additional charactereffectively removesany ambiguity surroundingthe identity of the central fernalecharacter, confirming the feminine positions of patient and chaperone. Imbued with mystery, seventeenth-centurypaintings of the chymical workshop traditionally reflect the shroudedsphere of the adept. By contrast,A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 anticipatesthe eighteenth-centurytrend towards the explicit, in which mysticism is supplantedby transparency.

The adaptationsto key imagery in A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #2 signify dual advancesin the public perceptionof alchemy and aesthetictaste. By the beginning of the eighteenthcentury, alchemyand its esotericstatus had becomesomewhat embarrassing in the wake of new 'chemistry'. 109Post-Paracelsian chemical medicine had spreadacross Europe, and by the turn of the century all prestigious medical faculties had chairs of chernistry.110 Leiden University incorporatedchemistry into its syllabusesin 1669 and in the following decadesits scholarspublished numerous texts on the subject. As new chemistry gained increasingcredence into the eighteenthcentury, alchemy and Galenic medicinefell into its shadow. After 1700 the publication of alchemicalliterature in the Netherlandsdiminished, while Galenic texts evaporatedentirely. Consequently,both alchemyand Galenic medicine appearinfrequently in eighteenth-centuryart. Paintings which do emerge,however, tend to presentalchemy and uroscopy as outmodedrelics of a bygone age. Paralleling this decline was the degenerationof the conventionsgoverning chymical genrepainting. Adherenceto the alchemicaltraditions diminishedafter 1700, as alchemy movedhesitantly from fact to fancy in the public imagination. Witnessing the terminal decline of emblematicchymical

109Ibis evolution is discussedfuxther in the conclusion of this thesis. 110Debus, 1998: 79.

138 manuscript art, the eighteenthcentury also signalled the demiseof chymical genretraditions. No longer interestedin emblematicconventions and unfashionablecrafts, the eighteenth- century art market was concernedprimarily with narrative and character.

The subsequent,and final, stagein the developmentof this doctor-patientimage is evident in countlesspaintings; "' this study examinesits progressioninto an ironically anti-chyn*al motif in a further painting entitledA Physician Examining a Urine Flask #3 (Fig. 50). 112

3.4 A Physician Examining A Urine Flask #3

A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #3 representsthe absolutecorruption of Science's doctor-patientmotif. In the style of Gerard Thomas, this later painting recontextualizesthe red-blue emblem,disrupting the genderequilibrium by unequivocally assertingthe fernale over the male. Although the author and date of this work is unknown, this thesis locatesits origin in the late first quarter of the eighteenthcentury.

In anotherbroad view of the chymical workshop, assistantstend furnaces,while the iatrochemistperforms a uroscopy. Recreatedto an eighteenth-centurytaste, the original motif is barely recognizablein this painting. The only familiar elementis the uroscopist, adorned with the customary red and blue robes, and sporting the addition of fur-trim. Indeed,the emblematicuroscopist deviatesfrom the Sciencemodel only through the positioning of his left hand on a skuU. This configuration is highly suggestiveof the eighteenthcentury; very few earlier works would include such contrived and theatrical posturing. However, while the masculineelement of the emblemremains constant, the female componenthas altered appreciably. Within the frame are not one, but four women:the patient, her daughter, possibly a chaperoneand a maid. Swarming about the chymist, thesewomen are dynamically animated,disrupting the motif's original stilIness:the child waves a stick in her hand, the chaperone,caught in discussion,gesticulates and the maid seemsto crane an eavesdropping ear towards her mistress. It is only the mistress,the patient, who keepsa static silence. But this is not the silent partner who appearsin Science. Completely re-imagined,there are few remnantsof her earlier incarnation. Although someof the empatheticcolouring remains,the patient's clothing has transformedconsiderably: with hat and shawl, the female is bundled up in three heavy layers. The flask basket, which oncehung on her arm, now hangs from a

111 These include After Gerard Thomas, A Physician-Virtuoso in his Cabinet, Examining a Flask of Urine Brought by a Lady, early eighteenth century, Wellcome Library, London 45024i. Oil on canvas, 81 cm.x 115.5 cm. 112In the style of Gerard Thomas, A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #3, c. 1710-25, Wellcome Library, London 47323i. Oil on canvas, 62.7 cm x 81.5 cm.

139 nearby chair. The most significant development,however, is in the relationshipbetween the patient and physician. As the iatrochemist gazesintently and seriously into the elevated sample,the patient underminesthe dynamismof their original relationship by staring seeminglyambivalently into space,listening to her talkative chaperone.

Thus, the genderequilibrium of earlier paintings is replacedby male and femalediscord. The suspensefulsilence implied by Scienceis here shatteredby a chattering femaleservant. As the equilibrium breaks, so breaksthe dramatic tension. All ambiguity is excisedfrom the motif as the implicit is replacedby the explicit. The overt symbol of cupid suspendedfrom the rafters replacesthe cryptic reptile, unequivocally affirming the female protagonist as mother-to-be. The declineof both chymistry and traditional uroscopy hastenedafter the close of the seventeenthcentury. Concurrently, the establishedconventions of chymical genreart were increasinglyabandoned as chymistry and uroscopy gradually lost credibility. A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #3 testifies to the new senseof artistic freedom engenderedby this inevitable waning and reflects an emergingromanticism of chymistry in art. Here the artist discardsthe conventionaldirt floor of Teniers;and van Helmont in favour of more impressiveand fashionableeighteenth-century monochrome tiling. Similarly, a cat, dog and even a young girl prancecharmingly about the workshop, figures which occur in earlier chymical paintings only occasionallyand in isolation. Unlike its predecessor,A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #3 dictates, rather than evokes,its narrative. Surrounded by not one, but four femalesthe chymist and his male environs are emasculated.This mutation of a seventeenth-centurymotif subvertsconcepts inherent to the original: Sol and Luna are divorced in a questfor a fresh narrative.

3.5

In recentyears art and chemicalhistorians have arguedthat many painters, including Gerard Thomas, possessedfirsthand knowledgeof the chymical workshop. The accuracy with which Thomas, and other painters like Teniers, depict complex scientific operationsand apparatus, suggestspersonal experience within a working laboratory. Historically, pictorial representationwas instrumental in the developmentof chyrnistry and its philosophies,and many artists, genreand emblematic,developed a strong understandingof chymical symbologyand its iconographicaltradition. An interest in chymistry would certainly have uncoveredthe illuminated or woodcut plates of Europe's most popular illustrated alchemical text, and it is feasible,therefore, that the genesisof genrepainting's doctor-patient motif lies in Plate IV of the Splendor Solis. There can be little doubt that the sequentialcorrosion of the doctor-patientmotif representsthe wider decline of chymistry and the consequential

140 looseningof its iconographicalconventions in the eighteenthcentury. Moreover, it is little coincidencethat the specific declineof chymical symbology parallels the slow degeneration of emblematicismin genreart throughout the courseof the seventeenthcentury. In his description of the slowing didacticism of Netherlandishgenre art, Lyckle de Vries might equally describethe shifting face of chyrnical art:

The gradual loss of understandingof the didactic intent in genrescenes and its possiblecauses - growing distancebetween the artist and collector and the massive production of art that bolsteredthe mindlessrepetition of traditional motifs - have beenmentioned above. An essentialthird factor must be addedto thesetwo-, namely, the practice of not explicitly indicating the interpretation of the scenesrepresented. Between 1550 and 1670 it becameincreasingly common to ornit unequivocalkeys for a didactic interpretation;more accurately, artists allowed collectors a greater freedom of interpretation! 13

By the eighteenthcentury the boundariesimposed on generationsof chymical artists were, to a large degree,lifted. Paintersof chymical scenesno longer restricted their viewers to chymical interpretations. Relievedof gravity and convention,eighteenth-century paintings tenderednew narrativeswithout referenceto or acknowledgmentof their chymical heritage. The three main paintings examinedby this sectionnot only confirm the iconographical referencingat the heart of alchemicalart, but uniquely plot its inevitable corruption. With the progressionof modem 'chemistry', both uroscopy and chyrnistry suffered in reputation. While seventeenth-centurygenre art partially encapsulatesa perspectiveon chyrnical lives, paintings like A Physician Examining a Urine Flask #3 indisputably representan irretrievable step towards the absolutefictionalization of the ancientart. In a fanciful vision of gender disorder, no remnantsof chymical purism remain.

4.0 Conclusion

Since ancient times, chymists and chemistshave beenfascinated by bodily excretions. While human blood, sweat and tears are of immensesignificance to the opus, chymical philosophy is captivatedcompletely by urine and facces. Scatologicalimages relating to the latrine emerge throughout chymical iconography,but it is pictures of the uroscopist that most succinctly capture the obsessionwith human waste.

113De Vries, 1991: 220.

141 The uroscopist's workshopoffers a unique example of chymistry's genderediconographical tradition. In its exploration of the weepingwoman motif, this study uncoversa fragmentary portrait of a heterogeneousgendered world, reflecting male dominancewithin a male domain. Femalevulnerability is brutally exposedagainst a portrayal of absolutemale government. Embodying the social disparity of the sexes,these paintings essentiallyreflect the exoteric practice of the seventeenth-centuryprofessional workshop. Existing on entirely separate planes, the chyrnist and his weepingpatient are entirely alienatedfrom one another. Conversely,Gerard Thomas,Balthasar van den Bosscheand their followers presenta partnership reflective of the chymical marriage, in which genderpolarity is reconciledin an expressionof universal homogeny. Whereasthe emblemof the weepingwoman subscribesto social conventionin its expressionof male authority, the doctor-patient motif evident in the work of Thomas and van den Bosscheadheres compositionally to the sexual imagery of emblematicmanuscript illustration, which predominantly alludes to greaterequilibrium. In its excavationof emblematictraditions, this chapter identifies the weepingwoman and doctor-patientmotif as malleableconstructs, the developmentof which parallels the very evolution of both Netherlandishgenre art and chymical iconography.

142 CHAPTERIV

SORORMYSTICA: FACTORING THE FEMALE WORKER, MAID OR MAGUS.

I am confident, Women would labour as much with Fire and Furnace,as Men; for they'l make good Cordials and Spirits; but whether they would find out the Philosopher's-Stone,I doubt; for our Sex is more apt to wast, than to make Gold: However, I would have them try, especiallythose that have the Means to spend;for, knows but Women be happy in finding it Men [ ]. 1 who might more out than ...

Consideringshe constituted an integral componentof chymical symbology,it is curious that the female occupiedsuch a peripheral role in the affairs of the workshop. As this thesis has illustrated, women in alchemicalpaintings of the early modem period are continually confined to the genderroles determinedby the values and conventionsof the Dutch Republic. She is wife and mother incarnate,whose fertility is expressedin paintings of the uroscopist and whosehomely diligenceis implied in portraits of domesticvirtue. She exists, therefore, as the private counter to the alchemist's open industry, a malleable signifier of marital harmony or marital disintegration. Paragonof virtue or harbinger of woe, the female is a barometerof the moral condition of the household. Despite occupying the sameframe, it is clear that the male and female,in the paintings explored thus far, belong to separate,but interdependent,spheres: a self-containedsymbol of domesticity, it seemsthat the wife simply has no businessin the chyrnical workshop.

Yet, records evenfrom ancienttimes relate an important tradition of femalepractitioners and philosophers,adepts who proved pivotal to the formation and developmentof Western and Easternalchemy. Although there is little historical evidenceof their existence,the fcnule paragonsof antiquity are amongalchemy's most glorified figureheads. Lionized by male writers from Zosimos of Panopolisto Maier, women such as Maria the Jewessacquired a transcendentmythological status. Thesepseudo-historical women are rarely committed to canvas:a smatteringof speculativeprints is all that remains of thesefantastic heroinesof alchemy. But history also chroniclesthe existenceof more commonplacefemale chyrnists, women whosedominance over the domesticstillroom engenderedsignificant scientific innovation; women, also, whoseduty to their husbandsdictated their presencein the chymical workshop or court laboratory. There is little extant literary or pictorial evidencedetailing this intriguing sisterhoodof alchemists,yet the material that survives is powerfully compelling. In recentyears, a handful of historians have soughtto unveil the femaledomestic chymist

1 Cavendish, 1668: 104.

143 and, in doing so, excavateher historical and cultural context. In the courseof this investigation, the femalechymical assistanthas emergedas a possible subject for the seventeenth-centurygenre painter, with critics tentatively identifying the face of the female chyrnist in paintings and prints of the early modem period.

This final chapter investigatesthe remaining categorizationof womenin seventeenth-ccntury paintings of the chymical workshop. Its focus is a curious characterizationwhich, due to current academicdebate, defies unequivocal classification. Suffice it to say then that this chapter examinesthe ostensibledepiction of the female chymical worker. In its survey of work by David Ryckaert III and ThomasWijck, this study questionsthe existenceof the female chyrnical worker in genrepainting and traces her potential evolution from alchemical treatises. As such, this chapterbreaks new ground in charting the evolution of the female from her symbolic beginningin chymical emblernatato her figuration as a fully-formed, humanizedchyrnist in Netherlandishgenre art. Locating the female alchen-dstand assistant within a pictorial tradition, it analysesthe historical and symbolic significanceof women workers in the chymical setting. Maintaining the establishedconfiguration, this chapter is tripartite: the openingsection introduces the female chyrnical worker and alchemist,tracing the developmentof her visual representation;the succeedingsection introducesand evaluates the work of David Ryckaert, respondingto, and refuting, recent critical claims that these paintings depict female alchemists;the final sectionexamines the paintings of Thomas Wijck, uncoveringthe only incontrovertible representationof a female chymical worker in genre painting.

Thus far, establishedcriticism and biographical knowledgeof the artists discussedin this thesis are limited: Thomas Wijck, Gerard Thomas, Mattheus van Helmont, Egbert van Heemskerck,Balthasar van den Bossche,Hendrick Heerschop,Adriaen van de Venne, Richard Brakenburghand Adriaen van Ostadeare aH artists about whom very little has been written and a relatively smaHamount is known. Similarly, although substantialresearch has beencarried out on Gerrit Dou and Jan Steen,very little is dedicatedto their alchemical work. Uniquely, this chapter benefits considerablyfrom a modem work of criticism, Bernadettevan Haute's David III Ryckaert.- A Seventeenth-CenturyFlemish Painter of PeasantScenes. 2 Comprising three parts, David III Ryckaert provides a biographical context for the artist and his work and establishesa critical catalogueof all his known paintings. Perhapsmost useful to this study, van Haute addressesthe issue of attribution and chronology as a primary aim of her research. This emphasisenables an accurateevaluation of the developmentof David

2 Van Haute, 1999.

144 Ryckaert III as an alchemicalpainter. While van Haute's comprehensiveresearch is indispensableto this chapter,her criticism of Ryckaert's alchemical oeuvrepays less attention to chymical history and symbology. It is the aim of this study then to restorethese paintings to their original chymical context.

This chapter also builds on the work of M. E. Warlick, specifically 'Moon Sisters:Women and Alchemical Imagery' which appearsin The Golden Egg: Alchemy In Art and Literature. 3 Dedicating severalparagraphs to Ryckaert's Alchemist with his Wife in the Laboratory and Bruegel's Alchemist, 'Moon Sisters, like this study, seeksto expound the identity of the central female figures. Yet, while pioneeringand pivotal, 'Moon Sisters' is a brief study which aims to introduce a vast subjectto a broad, lay audience. 'Moon Sisters' then forms a foundation for this chapter which expandsand developsthe debateon potential female chymists in genrepainting.

The Female Alchemist: The Mythologized Monster

1.0

In 1995, when a pre-eminent expert on alchemy was questioned about female alchemists, he admitted that he "could not immediately call to mind more than three!', all of whom were 4 "moremythical figures than real individuaIS". In the ten years since, the study of female alchemists and the feminine principle has accelerated, with some efforts directed towards identifying historical female chymists and expounding their enveloping myths. Even now, however, research into what might be ternied the 'non-abstract female' remains largely neglected by students of alchemy. As the histories of female chymists are cloaked in ambiguity, it is often impossible to ascertain actual experiences amongst the manifold fictions. Certainly the practice and, to some extent, the theory of alchemy was inherently anti-feminist, designed to oust the non-abstract female at every junction. Yet, the historical record attests to the existence of both female chymists and laboratory assistants since ancient times. Despite this, there is no shared 'history' of female alchemists. The female chrysopoeian, in medieval and early modem Europe, was an aberration, an exception which confirmed the rule. Her admittance to the chymical world suffered immeasurable obstacles. In addition to the anti-female doctrines of esoteric alchemy, the social constructs and institutions which enabled the practice of alchemy in Northern Europe during the medieval

3 Warlick, 2002. 4 McIean, July, 1995. http://www. levity. conValchemy/female. html (accessed10 November2005).

145 and early modem period (genderedsocial paradigms,monastic societies,fraternal guilds and later schoolsand universities)were all normally intolerant of female workers. It is not surprising, then, that womendiscovered unconventional routes to the alchemicalrealm. In WomenEncounter Technology,Sheila Rowbotham examinesthe entry of womeninto the scientific, and specifically, alchemicalsphere. Rowbotham.emphasizes the necessityof a nuancedview of history, demandingenquiry "into the actual social circumstanceswhich have enabledwomen to enter the world of scienceand technology".5 She further assertsthat "it has not simply beenan ideological strugglebut a practical one!'. 6 Infinite variations in female experiencediversified thesepractical strugglesand also the channelsthrough which women penetratedthe chyrnical arena.

In order to contextualizea discussionof the female chyrnist in Netherlandishgenre painting, the subsequentsection explores in brief the variety of thesechannels in an introduction of key female chyrnists. This pr6cis describesthe principal figures of alchemicallore, from the glorified mythical Mothers of ancient alchemyto the unheraldeddomestic scientists of the early modem household. Following thesehistories, mythologizedand otherwise,the ensuing sectionsexpound the graphic representationof the female worker in alchemicaltreatises and early Netherlandishprints.

1.1 The Founding Mothers

Until the closing years of the twentieth century, there had been little critical interest in investigating the minutiae of women in the history of science,with efforts directed instead towards the discriminatory texture of historical methodologyand theory.7 Recenthistorical research,however, has revealedthat women were in fact fundamentalto the formation and developmentof alchemy. In her Ph.D. thesis, JayneArcher exploresthe physical association betweenthe duties of the housewifeand thoseof the alchemist,a relationship which has 8 produceddomestic chymists since antiquity. Researchhas traced the female chymist to about 1200 BC, identifying two female Sumerianchymists by name,Tapputi-Belatekallim [ ] 9 In her detailing the in and ... -ninu. chapter scientific significanceof women the Mesopotamiancultures, Margaret Alic writes:

5 Rowbotham, 1995: 53. 6 Rowbotharn, 1995: 53. 7 For referenceson fen-dnisttheory seethe Introduction Part 1: 12-15. 8 For more on this connection seeChapter 5 'Tbe Opus Mulierum: Ile Housewife as Alchemist' in Archer, 1999: 5.i-5. xlii and Hole, 1953: 70-71. 9 SeeLevy, 1955: 180-83; Levy, 1954: 373-75; Alic, 1986: 21; Rayner-Canhamand Rayner-Canham, 2001: 1-2.

146 The perfume industry was very important in ancient Babylon sincearomatic substanceswere usedin medicineand religion as well as for cosmetics. The apparatusand recipesof perfumery were similar to thoseused in cooking. Women developed distillation, [ ]. 10 perfumers the techniquesof extraction and sublimation ...

An early exampleof chymical industry, Babylonian perfumery relied largely upon female practitioners to conduct its chemicalprocesses. This early practice eventuallyculminated in the female alchemistsof RomanAlexandria. A celebratedstronghold of knowledge, Alexandria accommodateda large number of female practitioners during the first century BC. This sisterhoodwas critical to the Alexandrian industry of chymistry, thriving even amidst a wider decline of learning. Most significantly for this study, this period yields the Founding " Mother of Alchemy, Maria the Jewess. Early modem awarenessof femalechymistry began 12 only with Roman Alexandria; numerousextant medievaland early modernmanuscripts 13 refer, often extensively,to Maria and her works, with many purporting her authorship. Although none of her actual writing survives, a compelling account of Maria's work emerges through the detailedchronicles of later alchemists,notably those of Zosimos of Panopolis. Credited with the invention of the bain-marie and the three-armedstill, the tribikos, Maria was a practical chyrnist, who also developedthe kerotakis, a complex arrangementof apparatus. She remainsa principal figure in the history of alchemy,embodying the mysticism which epitomizesthe characterizationsof all ancient female chymists. In JohannDaniel Mylius' Opus Medio-Chymicum, Maria is listed alongsidefour other ancientwomen 14 chymists: Cleopatra Egypti, Medera, 'Thaphuntia' and Euthica.15 Less is known about thesefour women, with their mythological reputationsfar transcendinghistorical record. Yet despitetheir relative obscurity, thesefigures, particularly Cleopatra, are alluded to by early

10Alic, 1986: 21. 11Maria the Jewessis identified through a variety of names, including Maria Hebraea,Mary the Jewess,Maria the Prophet and Maria the Sage. Occasionally assuming the name of Miriam the Prophetess,Maria was often confusedby historians and commentatorsthroughout the centuries with Miriam, the sister of Moses. RaphaelPatai suggeststhat she lived in Alexandria during the carly third century. Patai, 1982: 177-97. 12The Egyptian goddessIsis, evoked by numerous early modern texts, is of great significance to Western alchemical culture. While many chymical texts were ascribedto 'Isis' this thesis does not locate this abstract figure within the history of female chymistry, but rather within a context of alchemical symbology. See,for example, Emblem XLIV in Maier, 1617. 13Many of thesemanuscripts are held by the British Library and include the seventeenth-century examples: The Practice ofMary the Phrophetesseupon Alchemy, London, British Library, Sloane MS 1451, fol. 25; 71bomasRobson, Hic incipit Mariae Phophetisede Elixer, London, British Library, Sloane MS 1744, fol. 148-49; The practice ofMary the Prophetesse,London, British Library, Sloane MS 3506, fol. 72. 14Alternative spellings seemingly include Thapuntia, Paphnoutia, Paphnutia. 15MyliUS, 1618: 1.

147 modem alchemicalliterature. 16 Cleopatra, although almost certainly not the royal Egyptian describedby Mylius, is the best known of thesefigures, with an extant treatiseand single- sheetpapyrus documentevincing her work. 17 Possibly a contemporaryof Maria, Cleopatra was a highly practical chymist, whoseassorted accomplishments purportedly include the invention of a still. More profoundly, however, this Egyptian chymist powerfully evokesthe imagery of procreationin her work, definitively situating reproductive symbolismat the core of alchemical literature. The next female chymist of historical significancesurfaces in 300 AD. 18 Friend or sister to the legendaryZosimos of Panopolis,Theosebeia possibly collaboratedon Cheirokmeta,an encyclopaedicenterprise which relatesthe work of Maria and Cleopatra and vilifies anotherfemale chyrnist, 'Paphnoutia'.

From this point onwards,records of women in chyrnistry fall silent. While female philosophers,physicians, astronomers and mathematicianspunctuate this dark period with a certain regularity, few namedfemale chymists emergeover the ensuingmillennium. 19 It is only with the passageof a thousandyears that a significant female chymist is resurrectedby name. This chymist, however,is particularly important in the history of femalepractitioners, constituting one half of the mystical partnershipsoror mystica,frater mysterium. Wife to Nicolas Flamel, PdrenelleFlamel is the most celebratedof the modem femalechymists. Several,often fantastic, accountsof the husbandand wife partnership were producedduring the early modem period, with reprints occurring throughout the centuriessince. 20 Veiled in mystery, the story of Pdrenelle,like thoseof Maria and Cleopatra before her, is, in part at least, legendary. In the late fourteenthcentury, PdreneHeLethas married Nicolas Flamel in Paris and togetherthey embarkedon a quest for alchemicalenlightenment, embodying the spiritual partnershipof the chymical marriage. As soror mystica, Pdrenellepersonified the spiritual sister, the femalehalf of an inextricable malelfernalequest for the Philosophers'

16 Referencesinclude Cleopatra. Ex Cleopatrae tractatu de ponderibus, et mensuris expositio ampla ad inveniendasfacile singulas mensurasminae librae, conciae, drachmae et scrupuli, sixteenth century, Turin, Biblioteca,Nazionale, MS 92 (B-I-14). 17 For more on Dialogue of Cleopatra and the Philosophers, first or secondcentury AD, seeTaylor, 1951: 57-59; Linden, 2003: 44-45; Lindsay, 1970. 18Indeed, it is partially from Theosebeiathat knowledge of Maria and Cleopatra is derived. 19Ile absenceof named chymists, however, does not necessarilydenote the suddencollapse of female chymistry. A lack of academiceffort in uncovering historical female chymists partially explains the apparent vacuum. A further reason is proposedin an economic account of the early modern Netherlands: The most natural things in a society are the ones that go unremarked and unrecorded. Thus, female labor is in [ ] details the presenceof noted often our sources ... even though the of women's employment relations remains unspoken." De Vries and van der Woude, 1997: 596. Despite the shortageof contemporary research,it is clear that women continued in their work as chymists, if only in their capacity as housewives. The nature of the operational householdensured that domesticity and chymistry remained entwined. 20The most notable of these is Flammel, 1624.

148 Stone.21 On attaining an epiphanaltransmutation in 1382, Nicolas describedthe vital contribution of his wife to the Work-

I may speakeit with truth, I haue madeit three times, with the helpeof Perrenelle, who vnderstoodit as well as 1, becauseshe helpedmee in my operations,and without doubt, if sheewould haue enterprisedto haue done it alone, sheehad attained to the end and perfection thereof.22

This intimate relationship,which assimilatesa working collaboration of equals,articulates the 23 hallowed partnershipof the soror mystica,frater mysterium. Veneratedby the chymical brethren,this alliance of equalsis, however,rare in alchemical history and fails to reflect the difficulties faced by contemporaneousfernale chymists; and thoseto follow.

The two centuriespreceding the seventeenthwere pepperedwith accountsof female chymists. Thesewomen were usuafly either aristocrats or wives of establishedchymists, most of whom failed to gain genuineacceptance from their male counterparts. During the fifteenth century, for example,Barbara of Ce1je,consort of Emperor Sigismundof Luxemburg, sought wealth from alchemicalgold and was duly censuredfor her "woman's subtilty". 24 But while the most famous female chymists were criticized on the basis of gender,a minority of less obtrusive women seeminglyenjoyed equality with their male counterparts. During the sixteenthcentury, for example,a chymical partnershipin the mould of the Flamels emerged. In 1575, Anna Marie Zieglerin and her husbandHeindrich Schombachwere both executedat the behestof Duke Julius of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttel 25 for their fraudulent alchemicalbehaviour. Contemporaryarchival evidencealso reveals numerousother female chymists:Duchess Sibilla of Wfirternberg (1564-1614); Salomena Scheinpflugovd,who worked in the laboratories of Wilhelm Rosenbergduring the 1570s and 26 1580s; and Mary Herbert, Countessof Pembroke(1561-1621), whose"genius lay as much

21 Modern understanding of the soror mystica,frater mysterium partnership is derived almost entirely from Carl Jung. It is vital to separatethis relatively recent theorizing from the pre-Modern understanding of soror mystica. For a clear summary of Jung's interpretation of the alchemical concept, seeStevens, 1999: 230,242. 22Flammel, 1624: 29-30. 23Other such partnerships potentially include Jane Leade and John Pordage,Zosimos and Theosebeia, Anna Marie Zieglerin and Heindrich Schombach,Rebecca and Thomas Vaughan, Isabella and Richard Ingalese and even Marie and Pierre Curie. 24John von Laaz, 1437, cited in Doberer, 1948: 79. 25 Interestingly, Zieglerin, like Cleopatra, identified fertility and sexuality as the source of her quintessentially female alchemy. SeeNummedal, 2001: 56-68. 26See Brezan, 1985.

149 towards chyrnistrie as poetrie'.27 But it was during the seventeenthcentury that the phenomenonof the fernalechymist explodedonto the cultural scene.

1.2 The Inheriting Daughters

The dawn of the seventeenthcentury heraldedthe rise of the scientific lady, a phenomenon which engenderedsome of the best, and worst, female chymists of modem times. In England and France, in particular, daughtersof the aristocracy could legitimately play with the modem 28 toys of science,alongside their needleworkand watercolours. Appropriating the guise of girlish amusement,the level of expertiseattained by somewas unprecedented.As Jayne Archer describesin her thesis,the elite women of English society developeda serious understandingof the chemicalworld within a domesticarena: the stillroom. The number of namedchemists who emergedduring this century was extensiveand included Lady Anne Conway;29 Maria Rant; Margaret Cavendish,the Duchessof Newcastle;30 Lady Judith 31 32 Barrington; the mother of Lucy Hutchinson; Anna Maria van Schurmann;33 Marie Meurdrac; Marie le Jars de Goumey;34 Queen Christina of Sweden;35 Rebecca Vaughan; 36 38 Leona Constantia;37 and Lady Margaret Cumberland. The characterand quality of these scholarsvaried enormously,with practical, skilled and influential figures like Marie Meurdrac emergingalongside eccentrics like Mad Madge, the Duchessof Newcastle. While there were someexceptions, these individuals were typically membersof a privileged social elite, whose whims were generallyindulged within the strict parametersof patriarchal authority. Rarely grantedaffiliation with the alchemicalbrotherhood or recognition as alchemists,exceptionally gifted, dedicatedand learnedwomen were ultimately and often loudly dismissedby the chymical elite as talentedbut essentiallyflawed hobbyiStS.39 By the end of the seventeenth century, "Learned Ladies" were lampoonedwith relish by satirists all over Northern Europe.40

27Aubrey, 1969: 89. 28For more on women and sciencein early modern England seeHunter and Hutton eds., 1997. 29Hutton, 2004: 239. 30Cavendish, 1668. 31Clucas, 1993: 149. 32Hutchinson, 1995: 13. 33De Baar ed., 1996. 34Rayner-Canharn and Rayner-Canham,2001: 8-9; Phillips, 1990: 52-56; Ilsley, 1963. 35Buckley, 2004: 282-84. 36Dickson, 2003: 129-42; Dickson, 1998: 34-46. 37 "Leona Constantia", whose Sonnenblumeder Weisenwas published in 1704, was possibly a pseudonymfor Jane Leade. 38Archer, 1999. 39 For more on Margaret Cavendish and other English women chyrnists seeArcher, 1999; Hunter and Hutton eds., 1997. 40These satires include Wright, 1693 and Boileau-Desprdaux,1694.

150 For most medievaland early modem women, however, admissionto the chyrnical sphere arrived via their chymist husbandsand the householdworkshop. Unsurprisingly there is no data available on the employmentstructure of the medievalor early modem chymical workshop. Without guilds and with the secretsof the Philosophers' Stoneat stake,the chymical workshop was, in all probability, a far more secretivearena than the cobbler's shop or local smithy. However, from the imperfect evidenceoffered by genrepainting, earlier prints and literature, it is fair to assumethat the chymical workshop adheredapproximately to 41 the structure of the household-basedcraft workshop. From the Middle Ages the household representeda unit of production in which all family membersparticipated. The generational and genderedstructure of this production unit is best describedby Jan de Vries in his chapter 'Between PurchasingPower and the World of Goods', which assertsthat, "these individuals did not possessequal power in householddecision making, nor did they benef"itor suffer 42 equally from thosedecisions". Instead,"the male head of householddisposes of the labour 43 of his wife and children and projects his consumerpreference onto the household". But while the wife might have assumeda subordinaterole in the craft workshop, she was an integral part of the business. Numeroustravellers expressedtheir surprise at the proficiency Netherlandish "[ ] knowing and professionalismof wives: ... the women are as therin as the Men, it doth incouragetheris Husbandsto hold on in their Trades to their dying days, knowing the capacity of their Wives to get their Estates,and carry on their Trades after their Deaths.1144 But it is unlikely that chymical wives were recognizedas chymists themselves. They were, for the most part, workers not apprentices,fulfilling the role of subservientand diligent spouse. Increasingly evidenceindicates that the work performedby women inside their own homes,regardless of financial payouts or economicbenefits, was not regardedas 'work', but rather as 'duty'. 45 The Calvinist doctrine of marriage and contemporaryconduct

41Unfortunately, "the paucity of historical information available" on the female labour force remains the case. De Vries and van der Woude, 1997: 596. Most historical studieson "Women's work" are highly demographically and geographically specific, and economically or statistically based. This restrictive methodological approachis justified by the massivedisparity in demographical statistics and governing legislation even betweencities located in the sameprovince. It is not surprising then that data is lacking on the chymical workshop at any stage in European history. It is extraordinary, however, that the early modern craft workshop is also generally neglectedby historians. This area demandsthe investment of long-term micro-historical researchto yield significant results. The dearth of researchis currently being addressedby the International Institute of Social lEstory's ambitious project "Women's Work in the Northern Netherlands in the Early Modern Period". Still in its early stages,this project will eventually revolutionize the study of social history in the Netherlands, and will offer a comprehensivevision of the working lives of women in the early modern period. In the interim, however, the nature of the Netherlandish craft workshop in the early modern period can be gaugedin essence,if not detail. The background offered by this chapter summarizesall currently available relevant information. 42De Vries, 1993: 118. 43De Vries, 1993: 118. 44Child, 1694: 4. 45See, for example, Wiesner, 1994: 125. Seealso Clark, 1919: 200.

151 books decreedthat a wife's duty was the constant support of her husband,in both recreation and work.46 In a study which examinesthe nature and status of women's work in the early modem Netherlands,Merry E. Wiesner finds that:

Advice manualsand sermonsby Protestantclergy, and later in the sixteenthcentury by Catholic clergy as well, all viewed whateverproductive labor a woman did as simply part of her domesticrole of being a helpmeetto her husbandand an example to her children.47

The disinclination to view femaleassistants as professionalsin their own right was compoundedby increasedregulation to restrict the working practices of women,both within and without the home. By the seventeenthcentury, legislation had generallycurbed the official involvementof womenin the craft workshop and workplace acrossNorthern Europe.48 In light of the expectationof wifely 'duty' and curtailing legislation, it is unlikely that the helpmeetwife could attain the status of chymist, despite proficiency and practice in the workshop. It is more probablethat, as with guild trades, the status and role of the fernale in the householdworkshop was definedonly through her relationship to the male master.49

1.3 Picturing the Secret Sorority

With referenceto alchemicalemblemata, this thesis has thus far illustrated the transmutation of women into reductive deified symbols. The White Queenand the personifiedAlchimia are pervasiveand powerful imageswhich purport a universal femininity which negatesthe individual and deniesfemale complexity. Unsurprisingly then, humanizedfemale chymists rarely appearin any form of art. An exceptionalexample, however, is Michael Maier's Symbola aureae mensaeduodecim nationum,50 a celebrationof the "twelve Heroes" in "the Art of Chymistry", which contains an illustration of Maria the Jewessgesturing knowingly 51 towards a typically cryptic arrangementof hillocks, clouds and flowers (Fig. 51). Bundled in layers of clothing, there is little to distinguish this solemnfaced lady from any other. Pictured again on the frontispiece (Fig. 52), Maria, like many of the alchemistshere featured,

46Cats, 1625: 51-52. 47Wiesner, 1994: 104. 48For more on the regulation of women's work in the Netherlands from the Middle Ages to the early modern period seeWiesner, 1994: 102-40; de Vries and van der Woude, 1997: 632-47; Howell, 1986: 1-94,174-92; Hudson and Lee eds., 1990: 4-21; Mitchell ed., 1999: 242; Wiesner and Dicaprio eds., 2000: 197-206; Hanawalt ed., 1986: vii-xviii; Wiesner, 1986a: 94-113; Howell, 1986b: 198-216; Wiesner, 1986b: 191-205; Wiesner, 1998: 203-31. 49For more on women in the craft workshop, seede Vries and van der Woude, 1997; Pott-Butcr, 1993: 35-67; Wiesner, 1994; Roper, 1991. 50Maier, 1617. 51Emblem V, Maier, 1617. Reproducedin Klossowski de Rola, 1997: 110.

152 52 clasps a book, a symbol of her scholarly status. Symbola aureae mensaeduodecim nationum, therefore,is an extraordinarily rare representationof femalechymistry, not simply an acknowledgment,but a celebration.

Yet, Synbola aureae mensaeduodecim nationum is anomalous,shedding the genericabstract female in favour of a specific, semi-historicalwoman. In both alchemicalemblemata and genrepainting, female workers who feature in relation to chymical processescannot generally be identified as chymists. Imagesof femaleworkers feature more commonly in illustrations of opus mulierum or "women's work", an alchemicalconcept introduced in Chapter II of this thesis. Depictions of opus mulierum, analysednotably by M. E. Warlick in her chapter 'The Domestic Alchemist: Women as Housewivesin Alchemical Emblems', symbolizealchemical operations,usually through the genderedoccupations of the laundressand cook. The most explicit of theseinclude the laundressesof the Splendor Solis Plate XXI (Fig. 53),53 the 54 engravingsof the cook (Fig. 23) and washerwoman(Fig. 54) in Atalanta Fugiens, the two washerwomenfrom JohannDaniel Mylius' Philosophia reformata,55 the derivative woodcut depicting two laundressesin SalomonTrismosin's Aureum Vellus oder Guldin Schatz und Kunstkammer56 and the engravingof a woman preparing chestnutsfrom Goossenvan 57 VreeswijMs De GoudeSon. While most undoubtedlyrefer to opus mulierum and exhibit women workers, theseillustrations retain much of the symbolism of the White Queenand alchemicalmythology. Theseindustrious figures are, as Warlick suggests,"women as housewives",domestic washers and cooks who bear little relation to either the ancient female alchemistsor the domesticchymists of the early modem period.

The femalechymical worker, then, is a rare breed indeed,occurring explicitly in just one printed source.58 Revisedand republishedfor over a century, the 'mute book' or Mutus Liber (Fig. 55)59 has possibly generatedmore debate,both contemporaneousand current, than any other alchemicaltext. 60 First publishedin La Rochellein 1677, the book consistsonly of 61 A enigmatic pictures which relate specific physical and spiritual alchemicalprocesses .

52Frontispiece, Maier, 1617. Reproducedin Klossowski de Rola, 1997: 107. 53Plate =, Splendor Solis, 1582, London, British Library, Harley MS 3469, fol. 32 54Emblem III, Maier, 1618: 21. Engraved by Theodor de Bry. 55MyliUS, 1622. Engraved by Balthasar Schwan. Reproducedin YJossowskide Rola, 1997: 172. 56Trismosin, 1598. 57See Klossowski de Rola, 1997: 260-265. 58It is important to note, however, that Warlick has also identified the female worker in the drawings of a seventeenth-centurytext by Pietre Antonio Neri, Alchima, Glasgow, University Library, Ferguson MS 67. SeeWarlick, 1998: 30-32. 59Altus, 1677: 7. 60Altus, 1677. The author 'Altus' is believed to be Jacob Saulat or Sulat. 61The most influential interpretations of the Mutus Liber are offered by Eugýne Canseliet. See Canseliet ed., 1967; Canseliet, 1979.

153 seriesof fifteen plates, the Mutus Liber depicts the female in the laboratory in a uniquely overt fashion. The volume is astonishingin its representationof the femalechyrnical worker, reflecting the genderharmony of both the chyrnical marriage and the mythologizedsoror mysticaýfrater mysterium partnership. )Whilesome of the imagesallude to the conventional metaphoricrepresentation of gender,the sequencesof the couple experimentingwithin the laboratory resonatewith a powerful senseof the everyday. The fifteen plates have beenthe subject of intensiveacademic attention over the last thirty years, with focus falling primarily on their symbolic quality.62 While this aspectof the Mutus Liber is undeniablyof great importance,its non-symbolicquality provides most interest to this chapter. For an alchernicallysymbolic text, which of courseit is, the Mutus Liber is remarkably devoid of the standardinsignia of lions, serpents,fountains, toads and birds. Instead,the plates incorporate imagesof familiarity and thus subvert expectation,ironically enhancingthe mystique of the text. In at least thirty self-containedepisodes, a man and woman appearto work side by side in completeequality, executingalchemical processes in a collaborative effort. This soror mystica andfrater mysterium actively participate in eachtask, both in the workshop and in the field. Closely interacting, the couple are often physically connectedand evenappear to smile at one another. There is certainly an implication that the Mutus Liber expressesthe reconciliation of the two equal and oppositeforces describedin Chapter H and that this couple, in fact, representmarital, as well as chymical harmony.

Despite its immensepopularity and striking content, it is important to reiterate that the Mutus Liber is exceptionalin its depiction of fernaleworkers. Indeed,it is difficult to locate, to any degree,a sourcefor its remarkablereinterpretation of the malelfemalealchemical complex. Its late publication date within the context of alchemicalemblematic art perhapsaccounts for its innovative and relatively unrestrainedrefashioning of fermle iconography. For the most part, however, specific womenchymists remainedunpictured by alchemicaltexts and art; while male chyrnistswere frequently re-imaginedby painters, engraversand sculptors, the faces of women who transformedchemistry were largely forgotten. As women were contemporaneouslyousted from fraternal hierarchiesand dismissedby leading scientistsof the modem period, so too were they excludedfrom the possibility of significant cultural remembrance.Nevertheless, while the female chymist and chyrnical worker are a rarity in seriousalchemical works, the figures occur with somefrequency in satirical and comical prints aimed at the public market. Indeed,it is within the most influential and widely disseminatedalchemical print of the early modem period that lies the most uncompromising inclusion of the femalechyrnical worker.

62See, for example, FJossowskide Rola, 1997: 266-84; Canseliet, 1967; van Lennep, 1985: 230-34; Roob, 2001: 376-9 1; McLean, 1991.

154 1.4 Bruegel's Alchemists?

Perhapsthe best known works of alchemicalart are the prints madefrom the drawing The Alchemist (Fig. 11) by Pieter Bruegel, c. 1558.63These engravings form part of the foolish alchemisttradition and, despitetheir satirical tone, representthe earliest stageof chymical genrescenes. Here also rests the earliest categorical inclusion of a working woman within the workshop.

Introduced in ChapterI of this thesis, The Alchemist distributed by HieronymusCock epitomizesthe satirical pictorial tradition of the foolish alchemist. Spanningat least three centuries,this genreencompasses the art of Bruegel the Elder, David Teniers and Pieter van der Borcht, amongmany other Northern Europeanartists. 7he Alchemist, as Chapter I describes,depicts a shambolickitchen in which three comical charactersstrive for gold while three hungry children play amongstthe unhappily empty cupboards. To the left of the scene, the book-nosedfather sits at the spluttering furnace, dropping a large coin into a crucible, while another sizzlesnearby in a hot pan. The wife, located in the centre of the painting, engagesthe viewer directly, dramatically indicating the emptinessof the family purse. in a final condemnationof the couple's idiocy, a gurning fool fans the coals of an upturned crucible. In the labyrinthine network of conflicting, structural lines which race from one side of the sceneto another,there is a sole momentof intelligibility: in one comer of the frame, a separatescene of clarity and simplicity depicts the family headingto the poorhouse.

In its discussionof this chaotic picture, Chapter I notesthat this couple comprisecompletely separateentities, the antithesisof the alchemical,and indeedChristian, marriage. This sense of disaffection is only accentuatedwhen measuredagainst the close partnershipevident in the Mutus Liber. Yet, while their marital partnershipis flaw4 the couple clearly sharea professionalbond. The femaleis placed at the very heart of the bustling laboratory; by her feet have fallen a pair of bellows, abandonedbeside a smoulderingportable furnace. This is not simply a portrait of a neglectful mother, but of a potential alchemist. In the numerous discussionsof this print only M. E. Warlick has articulated the potentially alchemical identity of this central figure, stating:

If we hold such scenesto be representationsof at least a glimmer of truth, we can use them as a foundation for discussingthe role of women as practicing alchemists. In Bruegel's print, the wife's central participation in the activities of this household

63See Chapter 1: 56-59 for an introductory discussion of this print.

155 bears someexamination, as it paraflels the structures of the other types of domestic craft workshopsin southernGermany in the sixteenthcentury. 64

The issue Warlick raisesconcerning the involvement of the wife in the craft workshop is an important one which has yet to be examinedin relation to chymistry. Although, as discussed previously, little data exists on the Netherlandishchymical workshop, the evidenceof the 'helpmeet' wife, domesticgoddess and professionalassistant, certainly allows for the possibility of a female chymical worker, if not female chymist. While clearly caricatured, Bruegel's wife representsan evolutionary stagefrom the women of emblematicart, who exist strictly within the plane of allegory and metaphor:she is, whether alchemistor assistant,a chymical worker, albeit an unsuccessfulone.

1.5

In the corpus of alchemicalart, Bruegel's Alchemist essentiallyheralds the transition of the female from the allegorical to the naturalistic, anticipating the later genrepaintings of the chymical workshop. Yet, the alchemist's wife here is suffocatedby satire; there is little depth in this characterization,as Bruegel, like so many alchemical artists, still reducesthe female to a symbol, an instrument of male intent. Despite providing an unprecedentedmaterial source, Bruegel's Alchemist fails to anticipate the inscrutability and sophisticationwhich characterizesall subsequentportrayals of female chymical workers in genreart. In its exploration of David Ryckaert III, the foRowing sectiondescribes the restoration of female complexity within quintessentiallyambiguous depictions of women workers.

David Ryckaert III

2.0

The rarity of the fernalechymist and chymical worker in genericalchemical art extendsto genrepainting. A survey of Teniers' countlesschymical paintings doesnot reveal a single woman working at the flames of the furnace. This absenceis wholly typical of chymical genrepainting, with the number of potential female chyrnical workers amounting to less than a dozen. There is, however, a painter whosework radically contradicts this trend. Influenced heavily by David Teniers, David Ryckaert III's work is unlike that of any other alchemical painter. Although critics have, for centuries,acknowledged Ryckaert's talent for imitating the

64Warlick, 2002: 191.

156 work of his contemporaries,the artist's alchemical oeuvre is strikingly original. Within this corpus, six paintings depict a principal, focal female and potential alchemist. The female presencein thesepaintings is so powerful that the greaterpart of this chapter centreson the work of this artist. This sectionfirst examinesthe career of the artist and then addressesthe six female characterizationswithin the context of the paintings, exploring the chymical possibilities of their conception.

While the life and works of David Ryckaert IH are relatively well-docurnented,confusion cloudedthe identity of the artist for centuries. Ambiguity aroseprimarily from the proliferation of "David Ryckaerts" in the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke and the misinterpretation of archival sourcesby commentators;and historians. In recent years, however,an accurate biography has beenestablished by Bernadettevan Haute.65

David Ryckaert III, or David Ryckaert the Younger, was born in Antwerp in December 1612, son to David Ryckaert 11and grandsonto David Ryckaert I. It is probable that his grandfather,Ryckaert I, was not a painter as is often assumed,but a decorator of woodwork and sculpture.66 Similarly, David Ryckaert H was probably not purely a landscapepainter as 67 so often reported,but was, more likely, a genrepainter. In her meticulousresearch into the Ryckaert family, van Haute tracesthe cultivation of thesebiographical distortions from as early as the seventeenthcentury. This confusion, propagatedover severalcenturies, also extendsto the life of David Ryckaert III. Apprenticed to his father, Ryckaert was admitted to Antwerp's Guild of St. Luke in 1636-37. Like his father, Ryckaert's specialismearly in his career orientatedtowards peasantscenes. Naturally, Ryckaert's style resembledthat of his father and master,resulting in countlessmisattributions. " The work of Ryckaert, however, betrays far more than the influence of his father, openly emulating the paintings of David Teniers and Adriaen Brouwer in both style and subject. His early piecesdemonstrate the moralizing influence of Teniers in sceneswhich are dominatedby instructive messages.By 1640, however,Ryckaert's dependenceon establishedartists and conventionsbegan to waver and with it the didactic quality of his work. It was at this time, during the 1640s,that Ryckaert's attention turned to alchemy. His marriage to JacobaPallemans in 1647 seemsto have increasedhis output, perhapsreflecting growing financial concerns. It is clear from the archival researchof Francinevan Cauwenberghe-Janssensthat at this stageRyckaert was

65Van Haute, 1999. 66 For discussion of the debatesurrounding David Ryckaert I see van Haute, 1999: 7-8. Seealso von Manteuffel, 1915: 58-59. 67See van Haute, 1999: 8- 10. 68Importantly, van Haute reminds the reader that prior to his registration to the Guild of St. Luke in 1636, David Ryckaert III "was not allowed to sign his works", van Haute, 1999: 14.

157 neither wealthy nor part of the social elite, earning well below the averagefor artists in 69 Antwerp at the time. 11isstatus is reflectedin part by the relatively few pupils acquired over his career.

As his careerprogressed, however, Ryckaert, along with numerousother Flemish painters, enjoyedthe favour of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. This relationship, though far from exclusive, may have contributedto the surgein popularity of Ryckaert's work and possibly prompted the emergenceof religion in his oeuvre. From 1650, his newly diversified work was in high demand,and it is possiblethat the painter collaboratedwith, or simply commissioned,external artists to relieve the mounting pressure. With a growing reputation, Ryckaert was electeddean of the Guild of St. Luke in 1651. an honour celebratedby the commissioningof a family portrait, which included his son David Ryckaert IV. 70 During the latter years of the 1650s,Ryckaert's growing reputation was reflected in the numerouscopies madeof his paintings by his contemporaries.By the close of that decade,Ryckaert's businesses,which included the export of art and a fabric shop, had developedinto lucrative and stable enterprises. Leaving a wife and three surviving children, David Ryckaert III died in 1661 after a short illness.

2.1 The Budapest Alchemist

Distinctly un-feminized,David Ryckaert's earliest venture into the chymical workshop representsthe most traditional of all his alchemicalworks. An archetypalchymical genre scene,the BudapestAlchemist (Fig. 56), painted c. 1642, revealslittle innovation." Seatedat a formulaic furnace, a middle-aged,bearded alchemist grips a glass vial with one hand, while leafing through a large volume with the other. 11isbeard neatly trimmed and attire pleasingly spruce,the chyrnist embodiesthe industry and discipline of a respectableNetherlandish worker. Containing numerouschymical accoutrements,the workshop is evidently a spaceof practical experiment. Behind the chymist, a young apprenticecrouches at the mouth of a smaller furnace. The trim appearanceof both the laboratory and chymist, in conjunction with the books tumbling about the floor and map pinned prominently to the back wall, indicatesthe superior status of the alchemist. TheAlchemist, therefore,initially appearsindulgent, even respectful of the pursuit of the Philosophers'Stone.

69Van Cauwenberghe-Janssens,1970: 240. 70Gonzales Coques, Group Portrait of David III Ryckaert and his Family, 1651, Private Collection. Seevan Haute, 1999: 39. Although David Ryckaert IV is reported to have been a professional painter, it is now believed that he was an amateur, painting possibly only a single work and not appearing in De 4ggeren of the Guild of St. Luke in Antwerp. 71David Ryckaert, 7heAlchemist, c. 1642, SzdpmiivdzetiMuseum, Budapest. Oil on canvas, 60.5 cm x 80.5 cm. Provenance:EsterhAzy Collection.

158 However, thesesignifiers of social and moral standingare underminedby the inclusion of a small owl perchedquietly under the desk in the lower left-hand comer of the painting. Probably referring to the popular proverb "Wat baet er kaers en bril, als den uyl niet zien en 72 wilT', the owl is frequentlyevoked in genrepainting to denoteman's foolishness. mS motif is especiallyvisible in genrescenes of a chymical nature and in Ryckaert's early work.73 The insertion of such a widely recognizedand distinctive symbol certainly "points out the foolishnessand futility of the alchemist's attemptsto transmutequicksilver into gold" as van Haute suggests.74 Keenly aware of the significanceof such emblems,Ryckaert's dichotomic vision conveysa regard for scholarly excellenceand, concurrently, discreet contempt for the futility of the pursuit. Wholly conventionalin content,Ryckaert's painting also conforms to the superciliouslydroll tone of mid-seventeenth-centuryvogue. Betraying close adherenceto the governingprinciples establishedby the leading genrepainters of the time, the BudapestAlchemist reflects a period in which Ryckaert reproducedwithout restriction the motifs, subjects,tones, compositions, characters and evenentire scenesof Teniers and Brouwer.75 Composedprimarily of moralizing peasantscenes, these paintings incorporate emblembook symbolswith fervour, a propensity which accounts,in part, for the evident proliferation of owls during this period. The BudapestAlchemist, then, in its style, composition, characterization,reiteration and reference,dependency on motif and chymical apparatus,and evenpalette is a quintessentialchymical genrepainting, predictable in almost every aspecL It is curious, then, that David Ryckaert III later provided the most unique and innovative chyrnical genrepaintings of the early modem period.

72Translation: "What does the owl need with candles or glasses,if it cannot and will not see?". For a discussionof this proverb in genre painting see Slive, 1995: 175; Schama, 1991: 209,558; Orenstein ed., 2001: 169; Calisch, 1961: 2116. Interestingly, it should be noted that the symbol of the owl occasionally denoteslearning or wisdom. See,for example, the use of the owl in Emblem = Alciato, 1580. It should be rememberedtoo that the owl was also evoked by proponents of alchemy in alchemical literature. For more detail seeBrinkman, 1982: 50. However, in light of Ryckaert's consistent moralizing use of the owl in his oeuvre, it is highly unlikely that it denoteswisdom in this painting. 73Paintings which incorporate the owl emblem include: David Ryckaert, Tavem Interior, 1637, location unknown. Reproducedin van Haute, 1999: 278; David Ryckaert, The Cobbler, 1638, location unknown. Reproducedin van Haute, 1999: 283; David Ryckaert, The Smithy, c. 1638, location unknown. Reproducedin van Haute, 1999: 283; David Ryckaert, Drinking Peasant in a Barn Interior, 1638, Dresden, Staatliche Kunstamrnlungen, GemMdegalerieAlte Meister; David Ryckaert, Interior %ith Meny Company,c. 1638-39, Stockholm Nationalmuseum. 74Van Haute, 1999: 97. 75Van Haute, 1999: 97.

159 2.2 The Le Havre Alehemist

Six years later Ryckaert turned again to the subject of alchemy with astonishingresults. The Le Havre 1648Alchemist (Fig. 57) incorporatesone of the few examplesof a potentially 76 female alchemistin chymical genreart. In an exquisitely finished scene,an elderly bearded man, reminiscentof van Helmont's older chymists, sits at a large open furnace, with tongs in one hand and bellows in the other. Light from an unseensource catches the top of his bald head and the fringes of his hoary beard, a touch which emphasizeshis advancingyears. Decked in the familiar tan clothing evidencedin numerouschymical genrescenes, the chyrnist's drab figure is lifted by the inclusion of bright red stockings. His headbowed and shouldersdrooping, the bellows fall to his side. Foreheadfurrowed, with brows drawn to a slight frown, the chymist gazesthoughtfully to the ground. The workshop hums with activity; distillations adom the glowing furnaces,while an apprenticein the backgroundpounds at a mortar. The chymical equipment,particularly the distillation in the foregroundand the large copper cauldron in the lower left comer, is executedwith a precision and clarity reminiscent of an accomplishedTeniersian workshop. The room is clean and well-kept, with just a few superfluouscoals spoiling the otherwisetidy floor. Unusually, an ominously overcastsky is visible through the window on the outer wall. But it is in his portrait of the alchemist's wife that Ryckaert truly departsfrom convention.

Sitting alongsideher husbandin the centreleft foreground,a surly, old woman looms studiously over an opentome. While her face is gaunt and her expressionstem, colour floods her ruddy cheeksand nose. Atop her head sits a white cap and while her attire is respectfully sombre,it comprisesnot the traditional blacks, greys and browns of backgroundwives, but rather conspicuousreds, greensand blues. This, then, is a woman to be noticed. Her gazeis lifted from her reading, and rests unmistakably on her husband. The chymist, however, although clearly pausingin his work, is turned outwards towards the viewer, with his back to his attentive wife. Ostensiblythis physical opposition evokesthe anti-chymical detachment of thoserelationships explored by Chapter I. In paintings of domesticdiscord, physical alienation in the central partnershiprepresents the antithesisof both the alchemical and Christian marriage. Yet, although The Alchemist's couple do not connecteye to eye, an intimate relationshipis implied by numerousunorthodox details. Unconventionally,the couple inhabit a single space,with the female occupying a prime position in the centre of the workshop. While women are normally relegatedto a distinct domesticsphere, the alchemist's

76David Ryckaert, The Alchemist, c. 1648, Musde des Beaux-Arts Andrd Malraux, Le Havre 77-19. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated: D. Rijckaert 1648.

160 wife clearly sharesthe traditionally male domain-77The physical positioning of the couple is also atypical: both are seatedsharing the samephysical plane, suggestingperhaps a shared status. As this thesishas demonstrated,the discord betweenan alchemistand his wife is consistentlyindicated by physical distanceand differential positioning, a model which may be exemplified by Jan Steen's Village Alchemist, in which the female standsbehind the seated male. A final unifying feature is the acknowledgementimplied by the direction of the wife's gaze. Although her stare is not reciprocated,the wife has ruptured the compositionalcage which regularly binds the non-hystericalfemale to the monotonouschore at hand, and in doing so she acknowledgesthe male componentof her chyrnical context.

A dynamism,then, exists betweenRyckaert's couple. But although a dialogue is implied, the content of their discourseis ambiguous. Van Haute interprets the wife as an admonishing figure, writing:

The artist warns the viewer against the risks of losing all possessions, through the figure of the alchemist's wife. She interrupts the alchemist in his work to confront him with an opened book which, in the present context, can only be interpreted as a Bible.78

Van Haute's theory is certainly plausible.79 Chapter H of this thesis identifies a gender delineationin the depiction of book readersin genrepainting, noting that women are often portrayed with instructive, improving literature. Indeedwhile portraits of young maidens frequently include prominent devotional,domestic or moral handbooks,the subject matter for older femalereaders is evenless varied. Gerrit Dou's Old WomanReading is representative of numerousportraits of elderly women,piously poring over religious texts.80 However, van Haute's assertionthat the wife's book "can only be interpretedas a Bible" is erroneous. The text in questionmight insteadpurport to be a chymical manual and the wife, rather than admonishingher husband,is in fact collaborating in his quest. Indeed,the image of the wife recalls the illustration of Maria the Jewesson the frontispiece of Symboldaureae mensae

77For example in Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist #3, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.06. 78Van Haute, 1999: 107. 79It should be noted that van Haute is not alone in her Bible theory. SeeMallcr et al., 1978: 152. Researchundertaken by this thesis has shown that Bibles in the seventceth-ccnturyNetherlands appearedin a wide variety of formats and dimensions. A survey Bibles in the Koninkl ijke Bib] iotheck and British Library reveals that such texts occur in nearly all bibliographical sizes, ranging from folio to 12o. 80Gerrit Dou, Old WomanReading, c. 1631-32, Rijksmuscum, Amsterdam. Other examples include Rembrandt van Rijn, Old WomanReading, 1631, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Rembrandt van Rijn, An Old WomanReading, 1655, Drumlanrig Castle; Gabriel Metsu, Old WomanMeditating, c. 1660-62, Rijksmuseum,Amsterdam.

161 duodecim nationum, who claspsa book in an expressionof chymical excellence,not feminine piety. This reading is supportedby the lack of moral signifiers in the composition. The chronology provided by van Haute indicatesthat Ryckaert's penchantfor emblematic signifiers, and in particular the owl, enduredfor many years after this painting. Ryckaert's favourite proverbial owl and a snuffed candle, for example,are incorporatedto unabashed moralizing effect in the 1650 painting As the Old OnesSing, so the YoungOnes Pipe. 81 Yet, the Le Havre Alchemist containsno such signifiers. As such, van Haute is wrong to pronouncethis painting a sceneof femalemoralizing and male folly. The Le Havre Alchemist eludessuch comfortable conclusions. Instead,the inherent ambiguity proclaims an entirely new developmentaway from traditional emblematicsand towards a revolutionary conception of alchemical art and the womentherein.

2.3 Ryckaert's Ageing Alchemists

The owl doesreappear, however, in the BrusselsAlchemist in his Laboratory (Fig. 58).82 This painting, again dated 1648, essentiallyconstitutes a reworking of the Le Havre Alchemist. This work, which reversesthe compositionof The Alchemist, consignsthe male alchemist to the left and the wife to the right of the scene. Despite the inversion of the space,the workshopsin the two paintings are strikingly similar, featuring the samespatial dimensions, furnace, woodenpartitions, table, copper bowl and numerousother details. The background apprentice,purnmelling the mortar, is repeatedin The Alchemist in his Laboratory, with the addition of a further shadowycharacter in the far recessesof the room. The alchemist, although reversed,replicates the protagonist of the Le Havre Alchemist even wearing tonally matching clothes. The characterizationof the wife, however, is almost entirely new. Although with white cap, rosy complexion and an ageingappearance the wife is superficially similar to her Alchemist counterpart,the artist opts for a bright azure for her skirts, a striking choice of colour, especiallywhen juxtaposed against the muddy gloom of the dark workshop. Trumping her predecessor,this colourful leading lady is even less enamouredof traditional backgroundobscurity. Crucial in this personification, however, is a new face.

The thin austerity of the previous wife is replacedhere by a plumper benevolence.Although the couple still do not face eachother, the wife here inclines to her husbandas he too turns towards her. Smiles replacethe scowls, as the alchemist's wife seemsto assist her husbandin

81David Ryckaert, As the Old OnesSing, so the Young Ones Pipe, 1650, Private Collection, Switzerland. Reproducedin van Haute, 1999: 348. 82David Ryckaert, The Alchemist in his Laboratory, 1648, Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten Belgid, Brussels 156. Oil 66 87.5 Signed dated: D. Rijkar f 1648. van on canvas, cm x cm. and .. Provenance:auction Brussels,P. -F. Tiberghien 22 May 1827, number 253.

162 his chymical operations,pointing purposefully to the lines in an open book. This is not, however, the interpretationof van Haute who maintains again that the wife is "referring to a passagein the Bible which is now held open towards the spectatoet.83 While van Haute's reading of the lecturing wife is not unreasonable,it is curious that Ryckaert, in splaying the pagesof the text, doesnot indicate its content. Warlick, in responseto such criticism, argues that "the book might just as well be an alchemicaltext", "indicating the wife's attempt to help her husbandfollow the book's instructions".84 Similarly, in contrast to van Haute, F.C. Legrand suggeststhat the alchemicalcouple embodythe wisdom and serenityof the elderly, writing:

Alors que L'Alchimist de Brueghelillustrait un aspectde la folie humaines'dpuisant en des recherchesstdriles, I'alchimist de Ryckaert et sa compagneincarnent la sagessedes vieillards, le labour paisible et partagd.85

The Alchemist in his Laboratory, however,admits an ambiguity overlookedby Lcgrand-, while depicting quiet dedicationand scholarly activity, the painting doesnot constitute an unconditional defenceof the couple's alchemicalpursuits. It is highly probable, given the subject, that the drawing of the owl tackedto the mantel emblematicallycautions against My. Despite this motif, the sceneis essentiaHyambiguous; Ryckaert refuseseither to condoneor condemnthe alchemicalquest and deliberatelycultivates mystery around the central female figure. In a perversionof Bruegel's didactic and explicit drawing, Ryckacrt transforms the alchemistand his wife into enigmatic spectres,whose identities remarkably continue to generateargument almost five hundredyears on.

The debateis further fuelled by the recurrenceof an elderly book-wielding woman in two nearly identical paintings TheAlchemist with his Wife in the Workshop(Fig. 59)" and Tile 87 Alchemist with his Wife in the Laboratory (Fig. 60). Facially distinct from those discussed previously, this old woman appearsolder still. Lines deepwith age traverseher brow, as the

83Van Haute, 1999: 108. 84Warlick, 2002: 192. It should be noted, however, that in correspondencewith this author Warlick has now revised her opinion, writing: "After now looking at many more Ryckacrt paintings, I agree with Bernadettevan Haute that she probably servesmore of a moralizing function, and that the book is a bible, rather than an alchemical manuscript." (Email received 30 October 2003). 85Legrand, 1963: 155. Translation: "Whereas Bruegel's Alchemist illustrated an aspectof human folly exhausting itself in futile quests,Ryckaert's alchemist and his partner embody the wisdom of the elderly, peaceful and sharedwork. " 86David Ryckaert, The Alchemist with his Wife in the Workshop, 1648, Museum der Bildcnden KUnst, Leipzig 1.350. Oil on panel, 42 cm x 62 cm. Signed and dated: D. Ryckaertf 1648. Provenance: ClauB bequest,1861. 87 David Ryckaert, The Alchemist %ith his Wife in the Laboratory, 1649, location unknown. Oil on panel, 40.6 cm.x 62.2 cm. Signed and dated: D. Ryckaert 1949. Provenance:auction London, Christie's 5 April 1963, number 37. Reproducedin van Haute. 1999: 333.

163 comers of her saggingmouth droop wearily down. Compositionally, the paintings are identical to The Alchemist in his Laboratory, but for a significant variation in the positioning of the chymist and his wife. In The Alchemist in his Laboratory the headof the alchemist inclines away from his work, towards his wife, as if listening and in someway heedingher gesturing finger. In TheAlchemist with his Wife in the Workshop and TheAlchemist with his Wife in the Laboratory, however,the chyrnist appearsless attentive, with his eyesdrawn to his work and his headveering towards the experimentat hand. With wrinkled countenance and soundlesslips, the chymist's spousestares mournfully at her husband'sback, as if resignedto his rejection. Onceagain, the wife's role in the workshop is ambiguous;whether she is providing moral or chymical instruction for her husbandis essentiallyuncertain. In either case,she is ignored by the central male chymist.

A final reconfigurationof this model occurs approximately ten years later in The Alchemist and his Wife (Fig. 6 1).88 The painting reverts to the original arrangementof Le Havre's Alchemist in which the chymist is locatedtowards the right and the wife on the left. While the setting is very similar, the arrangementis markedly different. The bald chymist replicated time and again is abandonedin favour of a new model, a dark-haired man who appearsin numerousother Ryckaert paintings. The female, while maintaining the white cloth cap and large book, is also new. The couple are distinctly younger than any other featuredby the artist. Working the bellows, the chyrnist conforms to the Ryckaert pattern; glancing up from his work, the chymist cocks his head slightly to one side as if listening. His wife, to form graspsa large volume. In this exampleshe holds the pagesopen to her chest, with the book's vellum cover facing out towards the spectator. Her eyesare keenly trained in the direction of her husband,although her gazeseems to fall over his shoulder; she appearsto interrupt the chymist in his toil. Comparedwith earlier examples,The Alchemist and his Wife rendersthe couple evencloser to one another. But despitetheir proximity, intimacy is lacking between them. As anticipated,the wife is positionedbehind her husband,but this time is set slightly further into the background. As the alchemistlooks up from his work, it is now completely impossiblefor him to seehis wife. Once again, van Haute insists that the "work shows an alchemistin the companyof his wife, who interrupts him to draw attention to a passagein the Bible."89 However, ambiguity oncemore arisesfrom the artist's reluctanceto elucidate fully the painting's intention. As such, van Haute's readinessto ascribe a moralizing cast to the female figure appears,again, injudicious. Ryckaert's paintings at no point categorically identify the female as didactic. Indeed,in this contextual study it is clear that, as Ryckaert's

88David Ryckaert, 7he Alchemist and his Wife, c. 1655-60, Krornerfz Castle, the Czech Republic. Oil on canvas,56 cm x 67 cm. 89Van Haute, 1999: 144.

164 work evolvesfrom simple imitation to complex innovation, ambiguity becomesa defining feature in his effort to capturethe essentialmysticism of the alchemical workshopand, in particular, the female within.

2.4

A brief survey of David Ryckaert's non-alchen*al works uncoversan enthusiasmfor central fernalefigures. Specifically, the paintings of the cobbler's workshop (for exampleFig. 62), executedby Ryckaert between1645 and 1649, shareseveral similarities with his alchemical work. 90 Often exploiting familiar alchemicalmodels, these scenes portray mature couples, presumablyhusband and wife, sitting side by side. As the wife tendsher spinning wheel, the cobbler works his leather. Thesepartnerships, comparable in many ways to Ryckaert's 91 alchemical spouses,clearly embodythe virtues of age and industry. Applying this gendcrcd paradigm to Ryckaert's alchernicalwork, Legrand's interpretation of Na sagessedes vieillards, le labour paisible et partagV is especiallydiff icult to deny. However, Ryckacrt's female charactersremain essentiallyand significantly enigmatic. Thesewomen occupy a spaceof possibility and variation; their identity is determinednot by the artist, but by the viewer. While Iegrand infers industrious and peaceful matriarchs, van Haute perceives admonishingmatrons. Similarly, while this thesis identifies potential femalechymists in theseimages, these characterizations, in their essence,represent the embodimentof alchemicalhermeticism. Defying artistic tradition, Ryckaert's work refusesto commandhis viewer, rejecting both the moralizing didacticism of his contemporariesand the stifling clichd of his inheritors. Ryckaert refusesto reducethe femaleto an easily deduciblesymbol in the mannerof alchemicalemblemata and, in doing so, deniesthe clear characterizationof the wife as nag, coHeagueor chyniist.

Thomas WUck

3.0

Although the enigmatic products of Ryckaert's palette allow the possibility of female chymistry, they ultimately admit a plethora of alternative readings. A less equivocal vision of the working female chymist lies in the paintings of Thomas Wijck. Chapter 11of this thesis

90David Ryckaert, The Cobbler, c. 1644-1649,Bally Schuhmuseum,Sch6nenwerd, Switzerland. Signed: DR. 91For an analysis of this collection seevan Haute, 1999: 34-35,40-41,105-07.

165 introducesWijck as a painter of distinctive and innovative chyrnical scenes.These paintings, characterizedmost often by scholarly activity and compositionalbalance, evoke the senseof equilibrium that lies at the heart of the chymical marriage and Dutch domesticphilosophy. Previously, this study has shownhow Wijck's treatmentof genderreflects that of chymical emblemata,transmuting the VVhiteQueen and Red King into their domesticequivalents. In the compositionsdiscussed earlier, Wijck depicts two separatebut interdependentspheres, in an expressionof micro- and macro-cosmicequilibrium. Here in this final chapter, this study turns to his portrayal of marital partnership,in which husbandand wife work side by side towards a sharedchyrnical goal.

3.1 An Alchemist In His Study

An Alchemist in his Study (Fig. 63) is, in many ways, archetypal Wijck. 92 Through an architectural arch which spansthe entire width of the canvas,a thriving chymical workshop is capturedin the midst of its daily routine. This capaciousstudy revealsa red-cappedscholar at a desk laden with scrapsof paper. Relatively young, the beardedchymist, with prominent positioning and distinctive clothing, commandsattention. With paper and pen in his hands, the scholar is momentarilydiverted; as he turns outwards to the viewer, his eyesare drawn to the burning coals in the lower left comer of the room. With an eye to both his papers and his practical preparations,this chyrnist embodiesthe balanceof the esotericand exoteric. From the wood-beamedceiling hangsa large blue swatheof curtain, a reptilian creature, a lantern and a birdcage. To the left of the sceneWijck's idiosyncratic and beautifully executedlead- latticed window floods the cluttered workshop with brilliant Haarlem daylight. The vast spaceis consumedby chymical paraphernaliawhich spills acrossthe room. The intensity with which pots and paperspollute the workshop, however,is a signal not of moral disintegration,but of zealousindustry. The framed portrait on the right of the sceneindicates the wealth and social standingof the owner. But the scholar chymist is not the only figure in the room. Beyond a table burdenedwith a colossal globe and enormoustomes, a poorly ht assistantplunges two handsinto a large iron mortar. With sleevesrolled up, back archedand kneesbent, the dynamic figure neatly encapsulatesthe atmosphereof industry. Beyond the assistant,however, sits the remainingresident of the interior. Through a further arch and past a short flight of steps,a distant fernalefigure staresout of the workshop directly into the eyes of the viewer. With a white apron riding up upon her red-skirted lap, the woman appearsto be seated. Around her head is wrapped a white scarf, which trails heavily about her neck.

92Thomas Wijck, An Alchemist in his Study, date unknown, Wellcome Library, London 45 100i. Oilon wood, c.58 cm x 54 cm. Provenance:Robinson Fisher and Harding auction house, London, II March 1920, lot 126.

166 With her sleevesrolled up, this characterizationcontinues the themeof diligenceand, while her specific labour is imperceptible,she appears to hold up an object in her left hand related to her task. Significantly, thereis no apparentkitchen and no child under her care. Initially, at least, shepossesses every indication of being a female assistant.

)Whilethis potential assistantis the smallestcharacter in the room, she is undoubtedly significant. In yet anotherexample of shrewdconstruction, Wijck propels the viewer through the painting, forcing a final halt at this female element. As in Wijck's Alchemist at Work with a Mother by a Cradle, the room is lent a powerful senseof scale and depthby the steady lineal progressionof horizontal rafters. This senseof progressionis reiteratedin the repetition of archways,which gradually, of course,decrease in size. The swooping arch through which the viewer first peersis echoedin a fully illustrated arch in the middle ground and then again in the archesimplied beyond. The curves of the domineeringglobe resting in the mid-ground further enforcethis progression. In addition, a seriesof directional diagonals and horizontals impel the viewer along the samepath. Although the complex lineal staging appearsalmost random, eachline forces the eye deeperand deeperinto the heart of the painting. The horizontal rafters, combinedwith the straddling linkage beams,oblige the eye down, while powerful diagonallines thrust the viewer into the small area occupiedby the female. This contrivanceis also evident in the intruding triangular formation to the right of the painting. In a sharp angleemphasized by falling light, a configuration of books and tables points precisely to the tiny figure in the back quarter.

While this configuration appearsto embracethe female elementin the recessesof the workshop, she is neverthelessalienated from the male sphere. As in Wijck's previous paintings, this female inhabits her own space;not only is she placed through anotherarchway, but sheis also located beyonda short flight of steps. Significantly, especiallywithin the context of Wijck's oeuvre,this female spaceis illuminated by an independentsource. A latticed window at the very rear of the section swampsthe niche with its own light. Furthermore,although this rninor area is heavily emphasized,barely any of it is actually visible. Therefore, while the viewer cannot seea domestickitchen, an immediatechymical environmentis equally absent;the female, although seeminglysuffocated by various furnaces and pharmaceuticalpots, is not tangibly connectedto the workshop. Once removedfrom the chymical context, the femaleimmediately assumes a more traditional appearance;seated and handling what may be a spindle and thread, this elusive female might simply representa standarddomestic spinner. Thus, while An Alchemist in his Study rendersthe possibility of a femalechyrnical assistant,it is an identity which Wijck refusesto verify.

167 3.2 Interior With An Alchemist

Interior with an Alchemist Making a Gestureof Surprise, and a Female Assistant (Fig. 64) is the description ascribedto genrepainting's most explicit depiction of the femalechymical assistant.93 Instantly recognizable,Wijck's painting is stylistically typical of the artist's chymical oeuvre. With its idiosyncratic archesand Italianate columns,Interior with an Alchemist depicts a quintessentialWijc1dan study. The interior and positioning of the chymist are replicated almost exactly in anotherremarkable painting by Wijck, TheAlchemist and Death (Fig. 65), which representsthe artist's most unusual treatmentof the alchemical therne.94 A spectacularpiece, the painting includes the spectreof Death and the peculiar intrusion of a supernaturalsky into the ceiling. While this completely unexpected compositioncontains no femalecharacters, it is interestingthat the backgroundof this painting is also usedin Interior with an Alchemist Making a Gesture of Surprise, and a FemaleAssistant. 95

Conforming to Wijck's standardarrangement, the red-cappedchymist is repositionedto his usual raised desk to the left of the scene. As expected,the elevateddesk, piled with tumbling books, parchmentand a large globe, is positionedbeside a large, ornate panedwindow. Equally true to form, a heavy swatheof blue curtain hangsfrom the ceiling, alongsidea lantern and pulley-system. The floor is crowded with its usual signif iers; alembics and furnacesjostle for spaceamongst the discardedbooks, chipped pottery and pewter dishes. Reappearingtoo is the femalepresence at the heart of the painting. Although her face is turned away from the viewer, the female sharesa similarity with her counterpart in An Alchemist in his Study, possessingbroad, masculinefeatures. Half hidden by a stonesurface, the dark-hairedfemale, with shouldersaskew, leansto one side as if reachingfor an object out of sight. Typically dressed,she wears a cap at the back of her head and a distinctive grey square-collareddress. With sleevesrolled up, tilted torso and crookedelbow, this dynamic characterizationsuggests industrious motion.

93Thomas Wijck, Interior nith an Alchemist Making a Gesture of Surprise, and a Female Assistant, date unknown, Wellcome Library, London 45093i. Oil on wood, 43 cm x 38.5 cm. Provenance: Christie's, London, 20 April 1923, lot 157; description in Christie's catalogue"Ib. Wyck. The intcrior of a laboratory, with two figures and numerous utensils. Unframed, on panel -- 17 in by 15 in". 94Thomas Wijck, TheAlchemist and Death, date unknown, Wisconsin collection of Drs. Alfred and IsabelBader, Mlwaukee. Reproducedin RussellCorbett, 2004: 162. 95In relationto TheAlchemist and DeathRussell Corbett notes that "the architecturalfeatures of the roomdiffer from thosenormally shown", Russell Corbett, 2004: 165. This statementis accuratewith regardsto the combinationof features;however, the individual architecturalcomponents of the room areall commonin Wijck's work.

168 As this thesis has demonstrated,Thomas Wijck, like David Ryckaert, encompassesfemale 96 characterswith conspicuouslygreater enthusiasm than other chymical painters of the period. But this alchemist's wife, however,is somethingquite special. As in all of Wijck's portrayals, the wife is separatedfrom her husbandby a significant physical distance,a device which enforcesthe themeof balancethrough opposition. Whereasthe chymist sits to the left of the scene,the wife standsto the right. Here, however,the female characteris not seen through an archway or locatedin a separatequarter of the roorn. Instead,despite their physical distance,she enjoysshared space with her husband,even occupyingthe samelight source,a rarity for Wijck's won-en. Neither doesshe appear occupiedwith householdchores nor is she garnishedwith a brood of children.

Interestingly, it is the smallestvariance in this femalecharacterization which is most illuminating. All other femalecharacters in Wijck's paintings focus on domestictasks; with headsusually bent, their eyesare trained on somehousehold chore. In Interior with an Alchemist, however,the headof the femaleis inclined to the left, with her open gaze directed towards her husband. This remarkabledeparture from convention fixes the female firmly to her chyn-dcalcontext. The red-cappedscholar, however,does not glanceup from his page. Instead,with his headbent towards the desk,he pushesthe palm of his right hand out to the viewer, as if demandinga pause. With his left arm outstretchedtowards his wife, the chymist appearsto instruct his assistant. Although the Wellcome Library's description of the painting identifies the gestureas "surprise7'there is nothing explicit here to justify this reading.97 Instead,the chyn-dstat his desk appearsto relate instructions from his treatise to his attentive wife. While they do not interlock eyes,the couple are certainly interacting with one another. The physical dynamismbetween characters implies a chymical dialogue absentfrom all other Wijck paintings.

Ostensibly,then, this is a true chymical.partnership, the chymical marriage incarnate. Wijck's female, like PdrenelleFlarnel, is seeminglythe soror mystica, an equal and genuine participant in both a chymical quest and a Christian marriage. With sleevesrolled up,

96It should be noted that a female character also occurs in 11ornas Wijck. Alchemist in his Studio, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.254. However, the poor condition of this work and resulting unintelligibility precludesits inclusion in this study. It also appearsstylistically inconsistent with the work of lbomas Wijck. 97In correspondencewith the author, William Schupbachof the Wellcome Library has noted that"the wording 'Interior with an alchemist making a gestureof surprise' was probably introduced in the 1970s or 1980swhen the Wellcome paintings were first listed (they did not then have catalogue numbers). To avoid listing the samepainting twice or listing two different pictures as the same one, an attempt was made to distinguish the many paintings by Wyck which had all been listed as 'An alchemist in his laboratory'. Such wording confusedthe attempt to discover how many pictures by Wyck of that in Wellcome " (Email 10 November 2005) subject were actually the collection. received .

169 patently attentive to the chymist and in the heart of the workshop, this figure is indisputably a chymical worker. But despiteher immersion in a chyrnical environment,this individual does not representa glorious legacyof feniale chymistry. Instead,there is evidencewithin the scenesuggesting that the chymist's wife is simply that: a wife, helpmeetand subordinate. The primary indication of this is the location and centrality of the chymist. Wijck's alchemicalpaintings, while often including a crowdedcast of characters,project a single, protagonist chymist. As this thesishas shown, this male figure is often a scholar, beardedand red-capped,positioned at an elevateddesk near a window. While there are somevariations upon this configuration, the presenceof a singular chyrnist is constant. This principal componentis often supplementedby assistantsor apprentices. Theseare invariably secondarycharacters, with their marginality cleverly conveyed. Often facelesscreations, the helpersare almost always depictedin the throes of action, regularly portrayed at a large pestle and mortar.98 Furthermore,these assistants are consistentlydepicted on a lower physical plane to the alchemist:at his elevateddesk, the chymist enjoys a superior status in the frame.99 Similarly, theseminions are most often depictedin the background.100 As the chymist is pictured in the foreground,his presencedominates the sceneand the remaining characters. The inferiority of the other charactersis further emphasizedby their slight frames and hunchedfigures; less visible, in thesepaintings, is less important. The chymist's wife in Interior with an Alchemist clearly conforms to many of the conventionsgoverning the depiction of assistantsand secondarycharacters. At a physically lower plane, she is consequentlyof a lower rank. Slightly hunched,she is also placed further back from her husband,thus representinga perspectivelysmaller figure. Significantly, she is also a figure of action-,while the viewer cannotascertain her task it is clear that she is a physical, not theoretical,worker. Like most other assistants,she is also located away from the light source. Although WiJck's alchemistsdo not commonly interact with their assistant,the implied dialogue of Interior with an Alchemist doesnot confer any special importanceon the wife's role in the workshop. Occurring in at least three other paintings, implied dialogue is not abnormal and doesnot confer equal statusbetween chymist and assistant.101 Instead, the thrusting arm assertsthe authority of the male. Motioning his supremacy,he doesnot needto

98See, for example, Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist #2, date unknown, Chemical I leritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.261 and Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist #3, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.06. 99See, for example, Thomas Wijck, Alchemist in his Studio, date unknown, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.254 and Thomas Wijck, Interior of a Laboratory, date unknown, Wellcome Library, London 45096i. 100See, for example, Thomas Wijck, Ein Alchimist in seiner Werkstatt, date unknown, Staatlichc Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, Germany. 101Thomas Wijck, Ein Alchimist in seiner Werkstatt, date unknown, Staatlichc Kunsthallc, Karlsruhe, Germany-,Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist #4, date unknown, Rijksmuscum, Amsterdam SK-A-489 and Thomas Wijck, The Alchemist, date unknown, Wellcome Library, London 45098i.

170 look up from his work to expresscommand. Correspondingly,the femaleacknowledges her own position by her open and receptivepassivity. Her alert countenanceis turned to an indifferent master.

3.3

In depicting the femaleat the heart of a chymical scene,An Alchemist in his Study is ingeniously illusory. Relievedof all domesticsignifiers and in the absenceof children, the female is unambiguouslya working woman. But while she has shedthe standardsymbols of motherhoodand wifedom, this femalefigure is adrift, without real context and without identity. With little to suggesta relationshipto her chyrnist husband,this woman is immerscd in anonymity, which prohibits recognitionof her as either chymist or chymical assistant.

It is in Interior with an Alchemist, then, that Wijck perhapsprovides the only definite depiction of a femalechyrnical worker in the entire breadth of seventeenth-ccnturygcnre painting. A clearly significant characterization,this focal female is pictured amongstthe fumes of the furnaces,a force of animation. But as this section has shown, Interior with an Alchemist doesnot portray a femalechyrnist. Instead,the female figure is a worker, an instrument of male instruction. The partnershipsevident in the Mutus Liber and the mythologizedrelationship embodied by the Flamels reflect vocational equality, encapsulating the harmoniousequilibrium of the chyrnical marriage. Wijck's work, in contrast, reflects the perfect power imbalanceof matrimony and encapsulatesthe harmoniousdisequilibriurn of Dutch social genderphilosophy.

It is possiblethat the relationshipbetween Interior with an Alchemist and Alchemist and Death may offer further explanationof the female presence. Of Wijck's Alchemist and Death, JaneRussell Corbett writes:

Given the extent to which TheAlchemist and Death differs not only from the majority of Wyck's alchemistsubjects, but from the depictions of the themein general,it is probable that it was painted for a particular patron rather than for the open market. Moreover, it is quite likely that it was painted for an English client. Wyck went to England around the time of the Restorationand seemsto have remainedthere for sometime. Quite a few of his paintings of alchemistsappear to have been produced during his stay there.102

102Russell Corbett, 2004: 170.

171 As the only known painting to sharea compositionalbackground with TheAlchemist and Death, it is feasiblethat Interior with an Alchemist was also producedin Englandand for English tastes. The subjectof alchemyis rare in English art of the early modemperiod and, consequently,paintings producedalong this themedo not suffer the constraintswhich govern Netherlandishchyrnical genrepaintings. Although it clearly lacks the sensationalimpact of The Alchemist and Death, it seemslikely that Interior with an Alchemist, in its uniqueness, may also be a commissionpiece. Incorporating the only known depiction of a female chymical worker in seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish genre painting, Interior with an Alchemist doesnot cater for a broad market. When separatedfrom their spinning wheelsand cooking pans, it seemsthat femaleworkers are invariably unwelcomein Netherlandish chymical genrepainting. Incredibly, then, the only known depiction of a femalechymical worker in early modem genrepainting might actually be more English than Netherlandish.

4.0 Conclusion

The pictorial legacy of the FoundingMothers of alchemy is, to say the least, slight. Art pays little testamentto the mythological figureheads,soror mystica, learnedladies, helpmeet wives and the generationsof domesticchyrnists who fundamentallytransformed the history of chymistry. Emergingintermittently in alchemicaltreatises, the non-abstractfemale is essentiallya genericsymbol of womanhood,which negatesthe individual and deniesfemale complexity. In its depiction of man and woman worldng side by side. the Mutus Liber defines the female in terms of her relationshipwith the male, and, necessarily,the male in terms of the female. Consequently,both characterizationsrepresent pure gender.absolved entirely of human density and difficulty.

However, the paintings of David Ryckaert and Thomas Wijck and eventhe satirical prints of Bruegel reflect an evolution in the humanizationof women in alchemicalart. The preceding chaptersof this thesis demonstratehow the female is ordinarily relegatedto a separatesphere, marginalizedto a very specific role: patient, mother, wife. In the paintings of Ryckaert, however,the female occupiesspace with her husbandin a male arenaand powerfully withstandssuch easycompartmentalization. For the most part, then, the identities of focal femalesin thesepaintings resist resolution, and undoubtedlyraise more ambiguities than they resolve. The issueof whetherRyckaert's women are scolding wives, supportive helpmectsor soror mystica remains,and must remain, debatable. The complex characterizationsevident in Ryckaert's work are echoedin the paintings of Wijck. Here again the female is elevatedfrom symbolic entity to rounded,and inexplicable personality. Yet despitethe increasing

172 complexity of femalecharacterizations, the women in the paintings of Wijck and Ryckaert are powerfully bound to their emblematicancestors. In almost all illustrated chymical treatises, the Femaleexists only within the context of the Male. So too, in genreart, while the male chyrnist is frequently depictedin isolation at the furnace, women workers are invariably portrayed only in male company:the independentfemale chymist simply doesnot exist in any Western graphic tradition.

The female, then, operateseven in genreart as an emblematiccounterbalance to the mate. This thesishas exploredthe expressionin genrepainting of the binaristic perfection of two alchemicalopposites: Sol and Luna. ChaptersI and H identify how paintings of domestic discord embodythe competitionof polar opposites,while paintings of domesticharmony presentcompletion through opposition. Male balancesfemale, theory balancespractice, private balancespublic, esotericbalances exoteric, sulphur balancesmercury, father balances mother. The paintings of Wijck, and Interior with an Alchemist in particular, offer a further binaristic equation. While presentingthe only unequivocalrepresentation of a female chyrnical worker in genrepainting, Interior with an Alchemist clearly delineatesa power imbalancebetween the male and femaleprotagonists. Despite initial appearance,the female figure in Interior %ith an Alchemist is aligned not with her husbandchymist, but with a workshop hand. As her autonomyis envelopedby the master, the maid is consumedby the magus. Yet, completionis achievedthrough this philosophy of opposition; in a succinct expressionof both societaland alchemicalidealism, natural male supremacybalances female subnission, as masterbalances slave.

173 CONCLUSION

OPUS CICULATORIUM

Uncovering a field of Netherlandishgenre painting neglectedby modem criticism, the findings of this thesis are both numerousand ground-breaking. It has illustrated how all central female charactersin seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genre paintings could be placed into one of four categories:Domestic Disquiet, Domestic Quiet, Patient, Chymical Worker. In the courseof this research,however, several other important trends emerged. Firstly, that thesefemale characterizations possess complex emblematic significance,relating to both alchemicalphilosophy and Dutch Emblemata. Secondly,that the iconographicalfemale exists only in relation, and usually counter, to the male. Thirdly, that the male and femalepartnership within seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genrepainting may be allgnedto Sol and Luna, in accordancewith alchemicaldoctrine. Furthermore,each of thesetrends testifies to the emergenceof a new argument:that alchemical symbologyand philosophytranslate, to a limited degree,to genrepainting.

In conclusion,this final sectionbegins by summarizingbriefly the basic theoreticalcontent of the four chapters. Next, it elucidatesthe collective findings of this researchand clarifies its underlying arguments. Finally, this thesis concludesby outlining the specific areaswhich will benefit most from future researchand by sketchingthe courseof the alchemical genre painting in the eighteenthand nineteenthcenturies.

Chapter Summaries

In its openingchapter, 'Emblemataand domesticdiscord'. this thesis attendsto imagesof femaledisquiet in seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genrepaintings. Here, specific attention is paid to the depiction of chrysopoeiain paintings critical of exoteric alchemy. While introducing the first of four femalecategorizations, this initial study establishesthe key themeswhich underpin the remainingthesis and, importantly, indicates the centrality of graphic referenceto both alchemicaland Netherlandishgenre art. At this early stage,a parallel is drawn betweenthe "hidden symbolisa' of genrepainting and that of alchemicaliconography. An analysis of paintings by Heerschop,Steen, Brakenburgh, van de Venneand van Ostadeexamines the female in terms of her emblematicsignificance. This analysisexposes a sophisticatedmatrix of allusion which draws on alchemicaliconography,

174 Dutch Emblemataand contemporarygenre painting. Sited within a binaristic gendered relationship, the male and femaleare explored in relation to alchemical philosophy,the Christian marriage and the Netherlandishhousehold. In a perversebastardization of alchemical polarities, the male and femalerepresent an inclusive binary systemof values: as the male symbolizesirresponsibility, egotism,introversion and recklessness,the female denotesresponsibility, selflessness,extroversion and caution. Developingthis conceit, 'Emblernataand domesticdiscord' relatestraditional alchemicaltheory to genrepainting; in scenesof domesticand alchemicalturmoil, the male rejects the fernale,and in doing so appearsto rejectthe ballast of theWhite Queen. Finally, in expoundingthe variance and perpetuationof femalesymbolism in chymicalgenre painting, this chapteralludes to the mysticisminherent to alchemicalportraits of the Female.

In its examinationof domesticquiet and alchemicalscholarship, Chapter 11explores female presencein depictionsof the chymical study and reconsidersthe alchemicalconcept of the 'chyrnical marriage' within Netherlandishgenre painting. However, where Chapter I discussesrepresentations of a purely exoteric endeavour,'Pater et materfamilias' concentrates on imagesof esotericism. This sectionshows that the equilibrium central to conventional representationsof the chymical marriageis presentalso in genrepainting: male balances female, theory balancespractice, private balancespublic, esotericbalances exoteric, father balancesmother. Specifically, the domesticroles of Cook, Seamstressand Teacherare explored as female emblemswhich complementthe portrait of the male scholar. As with the paintings discussedin Chapter I, thesescenes of domesticity are relocatedto a chymical context and read within a wider systemof alchemical symbology. In its survey of Wijck's work, this chapter revealsthe Dutch scholar and domesticparagon to embodythe same idealized,gendered characteristics represented by the Splendor Solis' alchemicalsovereigns. Thus, it concludesthat while scenesof domesticdiscord embodythe repulsion of polar opposites,paintings of domesticharmony presentcompletion through opposition.

In the first study of its Und, Chapter III, 'Pisldjken and Pisse-Prophets'excavates the emblematicrole of women in paintings of the chymical-uroscopist'sworkshop. In their treatmentof the popular uroscopal them, theseiatrocherriical paintings are characterizedby an exceptionalinclusion of the female. Addressinga highly complex area of chymistry, this sectionplaces uroscopy within an early modem context of Galenic medicine,iatrochcmistry, alchemicalphilosophy and chrysopoeia. In addition, the intricate associationsof fertility and sexuality to urine are elucidatedin relation to both seventeenth-centurymedicine and alchemy. Capitalizing on the findings of ChaptersI and H, this sectionexamines, with greater focus, the developmentof commonkey genderedemblems. The first sectionclarifies the

175 symbolic significanceof the femalepatient in both a chymical and non-chymicalcontext and examinesthe weepingwoman as a symbol of pregnancy. In a distinct study, the second segmentexpounds the complexity of female fertility symbols in an analysisof work by Gerard Thomas and Balthasar van den Bossche. Specifically, this sectionuncovers a correlation betweenthe Red King and Blue Queenof the Splendor Solis and the physician- patient motif of genrepainting. Locating thesefertility emblemswithin an iconographical chymical tradition, this sectionalso charts the decline of chymistry and uroscopy in paintings of the early eighteenthcentury.

Final-ly,Chapter IV investigatesthe one remainingcategorization of femalecharacterization, unearthingthe ostensibledepiction of the female chymical worker. Siting the female worker within the ancient lineageof femalechyrnistry, this study attendsspecifically to the ambiguity of female chymists in genrepainting. Maintaining the theme-sof the precedingchapters, this segmentconnects the femalechymical worker of genrepainting to the symbolic imagery of alchemicalculture. In its survey of work by David Ryckaert III and ThomasWijck, this chapter breaksnew ground in charting the evolution of the female from her symbolist roots in chymical emblematato her figuration as a fully-formed, humanizedchymical worker in Netherlandishgenre arL Establishingthat the female operatesas an emblematic counterbalanceto the male, this chapter offers a final componentto the binaristic system which underpinsaR alchemicalart.

2 Main Arguments

While the precedingsummaries communicate the main themeswhich run throughout this thesis,the following passagesmore fully explicate its primary findings. So, to the key points of this investigation. Firstly, the overall argumentof this project is that all focal characterizationsof women in seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genre painting can be placed into one of four categories:Domestic Disquiet, Domestic Quiet, Patient and Chymical Worker. Although this observationis plain in both theory and statement,it will undoubtedlyprove fundamentalto future researchin the field. All secondaryarguments, which are elucidatedfurther on, are derived from this umbrella thesis.

Incorporating paintings which most effectively illustrate each classification, every chapter seeksto expoundcarefully the imagesof gendercontained therein. Collectively these sectionsdemonstrate that every principal fernalecharacterization in seventeenth-century Netherlandishalchemical genre painting belongsto a specific, immutable class; whether

176 mother, cook, teacher,helper, patient or worker, eachwoman fulfils a set role. In its review of such iconography,this thesisargues that, in line with traditional alchemicalart, the female of alchemical genrepainting is essentiallya symbol of womanhood,which negatesthe individual and deniesfemale complexity.

While this survey failed to uncovera single unequivocalexception to this statement,sonic qualification is necessary.Unsurprisingly, it is the enigmaticpalette of David Ryckaert which offers impedimentto the neat substantiationof this project's core theory. Although critics have identified femaleworkers in the alchemicaloeuvre of David Ryckaert, Chapter IV considersthese figures deliberatelyambiguous. Resistingeasy compartmentalization,it asserts,these characterizations embody the essentialhermeticism of alchemicalphilosophy. Having arguedthat Ryckaert's womentranscend classification, Chapter IV might suggesta deficiency in this project's central premise. However, in acknowledgingthe ambiguity of Ryckaert's compositions,this discoursemaintains that his figures, in occupyinga spaceof possibility and variation, have their identity constructednot by the artist, but by the viewer. Legrand infers industrious and peacefulmatriarchs, van Haute perceivesadmonishing matrons, while this thesis identifies potential female chymists. Given this caveat,Ryckaert's women comply with the prevailing premiseof this study, simultaneouslyoffering portraits of Domestic Disquiet, Domestic Quiet and Chyrnical Workers. Accepting then that all focal femalesare derived from four basic types, a subsidiary argumentemerges: the female in alchemicalgenre scenes is typically emblematic. Serving a purposeexternal to the primary sceneof male activity, womenconsistently represent a 'female' rather than a sexlessor genericquality. In paintings of uroscopy, for example,women denotefemale fertility, while in scenesof domesticquiet they commonly signify female virtue. Clichds regarding the female characterwere cultivated and maintainedby artists variously depicting shrewish nags and angelic brides entirely unconnectedto the chyinical theme. Drawing upon a wide variety of emblembooks and prints, thesepainters consistentlymanipulated the femaleto complementthe expresslymale subject. Consideringthis strong propensity for the formulaic, it is unsurprising that focal femalesfall relatively neatly into identifiable categories.

The secondassertion of this treatiseis that the female in alchemical genrescenes does not exist independently. This researchdid not discover a single exampleof a solitary female in

177 any alchemicalpainting! Contrary to the generalconventions of genreart, the female in alchemical genrepainting exists only in relation, and usually counter, to the male. This thesis considersthis special coupling pivotal to a full comprehensionof alchemicalgenre art. During the seventeenthcentury, womenwere frequently portrayed alone or in the company of other women and children, as well as in the presenceof men. In alchemicalgenre painting, however, the female occurs only with male companionship;she is wife to the husband,patient to the doctor and assistantto the master. The consistentunion of the femaleto the male has severalpotential explanations. The first possibility is that such compositionsmaintain the iconographicaltraditions of alchemicalart, a theory which is discussedpresently. As this treatise has noted throughout,the independentnon-abstract female exists only in association with her male counterpartin alchemicalliterature, philosophy and art. A second,more obvious possibility pertainsto the male-centricityof cominercial and scholarly alchemy during the early modem period. With a dearth of information on the early modernchymical workshop, it is impossibleto gaugeaccurately the extent of female involvement. However, it is fair to suggestthat during the early modemperiod womenwere rarely professional alchemistsin their own right. ChapterIV, in its history of chymists, uncoversprecious few independentfemale practitionersduring this period. As genreart is concernedwith the representationand idealization of the everyday,it is unlikely that women would have been pictured alone in male-centricprofessions. Indeed,a brief survey of other 'profession' paintings quickly revealsthe regularity of such male-nuclearrelationships. The Family of the Stone Cutter by Gerard ter Borch, for example,depicts a masonbent over his work, while his 2 diligent wife carefully tendsthe hair of their young daughter. Similarly, separateworks by Quiringh van Brekelenkamportray a tailor and a male spinner eachaccompanied by a female 3 dutifully preparing food. In thesepictures, and many more besides,the spousessit independentlyof one another,refusing to interact.

1 There are, however, two paintings which deservemention. The National Museum of Stockholm holds an incomplete, possibly abandonedpainting of a chemist in his laboratory, purportedly by Jan Pynas. In this work the gender of the protagonist is not explicit. This thesis,however, concurs with the Museum of Stockholm which records the figure as "male", and considers any ambiguity to result from a lack of proficiency. Jan Pynas, Chemist in his Laboratory, date unknown, Stockholm Nationalmuseurn, no. 454. Panel, 34 cm x 27 cm. For a brief discussion of this painting seeRussell Corbett, 2004: 110-11. The other painting, which does not fall within the compassof this thesis, is a portrait. This painting curiously depicts an elderly woman seatedbeside a still and holding a receiver. For a concise discussion of this painting seeRussell Corbett, 2004: 114-15. Franqois Verwilt, Portrait of an Old Woman%ith a Still, 1674,1,ocation unknown. Canvas, 66 cm x 35 cm. 2 Gerard ter Borch, The Family of the Stone Cutter, c. 1653-55, Gem!ildcrgalerie, Staatliche Museen PreussischerKulturbesitz, Berlin. 3 Quiringh van Brekelenkam, Interior of a Tailor's Shop, 1653, Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts;Quiringh van Brekelenkam, Man Spinning and WomanScraping Carrots, c. 1653-54, Philadelphia Museum of Art.

178 But there is a subsidiarypoint herewhich provides anotherdimension to this interesting relationship. The male and femalein alchemicalgenre paintings very rarely interact eye-to- eye. This consistentformula effectively heightensthe senseof division betweenthe sexes. Again, this construct is atypical of wider genreart; indeed,in scenesof mixed companyeye contact betweenthe sexesis common.4 So why do the couplesso rarely interact in alchemical genre painting? This segregationis easyto explain in representationsof domesticharmony. With the work of de Hooch and Netscher,Chapter 11demonstrates clearly how genreartists expressfemale virtue through absolutededication to the householdchore at hand. Women are portrayed consistentlywith eyestrained diligently on their work. As the responsible alchemist devoteshimself to his profession,so too the wife absorbsherself in the home. This model occurs in countlesspaintings of professions,including The Family of the Stone Cutter. Sharing the sameframe, the husbandand wife fulfil their separateduties within the spirit of Christian partnership. This formula, then, is not simply typical of alchemicalgenre art, but of 'profession' paintings which promotethe virtues of industry and diligencethrough idealized imagesof gender. But what of paintingscriticizing alchemy? Jan Steen'spaintings do not promote the sameidyllic visions of either genderor alchemyas thoseby ThomasWijck. Chapter I suggeststhat in isolating the female, she is more easily read as a symbol, in the mannerof NetherlandishEmblernata. On a more fundamentallevel, however,the separation of male and femalein satirical art alludesto the disintegrationof the marriageand household. Steen's wailing woman and scowling alchemistunequivocally suggestthe collapseof a partnership and the partnerswithin. Simple narrative devicessuch as thesewere intrinsic to genrepaintings keento communicatelessons to a properly moralistic and analytical market. It seems,then, that the motivation behindthe segregationof gendersdepends on the artist's didactic intent. Paradoxically, both advocatesand detractorsof alchemyemploy gender severancein support of their conflicting messages.This thesis,however, proposes a complementarytheory for this segregation,which is delineatedin the following passage.

The third finding of this investigationis that the male and female within seventeenth-century Netherlandishalchemical genre paintings may be aligned to Sol and Luna, the central figures of alchemicalsymbology. In proposingthis new interpretativeframework, this thesis potentially transforms conventionalunderstanding of alchemical genrepainting. Chapter I demonstrateshow male rejection of the Luna ballast results in universal turmoil, while Chapter II describesthe hannony which evolvesfrom a balanceof opposites. Thesetwo

4 Examples include JacobOchtervelt, The Music Lesson, 1671, The Institute of Art, Chicago; Hendrick Sorgh, VegetableMarket, 1662, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Jan Steen,Inn with a Violinist and Card Players, c. 1665-68, Collection of Elizabeth R; Frans van Mieris the Elder, Inn Scene, 1658, Mauritshuis, The Hague.

179 chapters align the binaristic systeminherent to alchemicalphilosophy to the couplesmanifest within genrescenes. Male balancesfemale, theory balancespractice, private balancespublic, esotericbalances exoteric, sulphur balancesmercury, father balancesmother. Furthermore, ChaptersIII and IV offer binaristic possibilities in the diametrics of doctor-patientand master-slave. Each of thesechapters individually revealshow the intricate balanceof poles results in alchemical and familial success,while its disruption producesturmoil.

Extending this thread somewhat,this thesiscontends that generalalchemical symbolism and philosophy translate,to a limited degree,to genreart. Complementingestablished criticism ChaptersI and III demonstratecontemporary awareness of alchemical symbolismand processes.While nume-rouscritics have explored public recognition of alchemicalimagery in relation to poetry and drama, this thesispioneers the approachto a genrepainting. Consideringthe wide proliferation of alchemicaliconographical literature during the seventeenthcentury, it seemslikely that artists, in particular, would have possesseda basic appreciationof alchemicaltheory. As this thesis has demonstrated,cross-fertilization betweenartists was common,and consequentlyideas and themeswere highly communicable. It is also important to note that from the seventeenthcentury onwards, engraversof alchemicalemblems did not concentratesolely on this specializedfield; insteaddesigners and engraverswould have worked on numerousprojects, ranging from genreprints to traditional emblembooks. 5 The probableinvolvement of artists such as David Teniers and Gerard Thomas in the chyrnical spherefurther compoundsthe argumentthat paintings of the chymical workshop betray an awarenessof alchemicalphilosophies. Significantly, however, debateregarding genrepainters' conscioussubscription to alchemicalphilosophies of gender is entirely speculative. Despitereasonable conjecture, the issue of whethergenre artists actually possessedknowledge of esotericphilosophies remains essentially irresolvable. To be clear, therefore,this dissertationdoes not suggestthat thesepaintings were necessarily constructedwith alchemicalphilosophies in mind. Nor doesit suggestthat thesepaintings exist only within a broader context of alchemical symbolisn-LOn the contrary, this study acknowledgesthat theseworks could be extractedfrom an alchemicalcontext altogetherand analysedwithin an entirely non-chymicalframework. Nevertheless,chymical readingsof alchemicalgenre paintings have proved immenselyfruitful. Expounding the relationship betweenthe red and blue doctor-patientmotif and the Red Sol King and Blue Luna Queenof the Splendor Solis, Chapter III, in particular, exemplifies the potential benefits in aligning chymical symbologywith genrepainting. This, in conjunction with the other chapters,

5 SeeWilthrich, 1966.

180 alludes to a sharedvisual culture, incorporating alchemicaliconography, emblem literature and genrepainting.

Further Research

The study of alchemicalgenre painting is undoubtedlyin its infancy. Almost entirely uncharted,this vast field offers rare scopefor historians of art, medicine,chemistry and gender. Perhapsof most urgent demand,however, concerns the issue of cataloguing. Although the Wellcome Library and ChemicalHeritage Foundationpossess substantial collections of alchemicalart, accurateand comprehensiveresearch into their holdings is lacking. Bernadettevan Haute's study of David Ryckaert clearly illustrates how methodical and meticulouscataloguing allows subsequentscholars far greaterrange and precision in their research. At present,numerous works would benefit from focussedresearch to establish definitively the artist and date of creation. Consideringthe extent of direct replication and repetition in thesepaintings, collaborationbetween these two major collectors would also be valuable. A joint databaseof all known alchemicalpaintings would be relatively easy to construct and would benefit scholarshipin this area immensely.

Equally urgent is the needfor a scholarly introduction to alchemy. The wide proliferation of errors and inaccuraciesin this discipline is remarkable. The lack of reliable material currently available is due in part to the diversity of peopleattracted to the subject of alchemy. On library shelves,the publications of modem-day'alchemists' eagerto reproducethe Philosophers'Stone vie for attention alongsideuniversity-published volumes. Indeed,a number of respecteduniversity-affiliated authors producepopulist 'magic' books in addition to their academicoutput. The gap betweenserious academic endeavour and frivolous fancy is filled by a glut of under-researchedand over-speculativepaperbacks. The substandard condition of alchemicalscholarship obviously hampersnew researchin the field and denies accessto the uninitiated. It may be within the interestsof the Chemical Heritage Foundation, whosemission statementencompasses advancing understanding of the historical role of chemical sciences,to fund and produce such an introduction. Currently, the academic standardis set by chemistry-orientatedhistorians like William R. Newman and Lawrence Principe. Proficient in both practical scienceand historical methodology,these scholars exhibit rare objectivity in their approachto alchemy. While criticized by somein the f ield, Newman and Principe's attention to detail and prioritization of analytical skills remains unsurpassed.

181 In the courseof its research,this thesis has had to rely on the work of other historians and scholars. It is unfortunate that the time constraints could not encompassfresh socio-historical data collection. Secondarymaterial frequently fails to meet the standardsof modem scholarship. Modem histories in this area consistentlyregurgitate the findings of ill- referencedpapers fifty or sixty years old; someof the studiescommonly referencedare almost antique. A fresh and thorough review of primary material is long overdue. In particular, new researchmust be directed towards the historical role of womenin chemistry. This deficiency is symptomaticof a much wider and unhappier trend: the history of women in scienceand in the workplace is sorely neglectedby current criticism. As yet, few academies have beenprepared to assumethe painstakingdata collection required to yield results in this largely unchartedand diversefield. Instead,numerous studies, especially those of a feminist perspective,are purely reactive, respondingonly to the deficienciesof criticism already written.6 Happily, the issue of women in the early modem Netherlandishworkplace is at presentbeing addressedby the International Institute of Social History with their ambitious project, 'Women's Work in the Northern Netherlandsin the Early Modem Period'. This potentially revolutionary research,involving an extensivemicro-trawl of contemporary documents,will provide missing qualitative and quantitative information, as well as offering a more preciseunderstanding of Dutch women's work in the early modemperiod. Similarly, excellentresearch has beenproduced in recent years on early modem womenin the Netherlandishtextile industries. The accomplishedresearch on imagesof domesticity and fertility in genrepainting has also beennoted by this thesis.

Opportunities are considerablefor future researchon the specific themeof genderin seventeenth-centuryNetherlandish alchemical genrepainting. Given the allowance of time, this thesis would have traced the sourcesof repeatedgendered topoi. Accurate cataloguing and provenancingwould have helpedinestimably with this endeavour. Although alchemical historians currently betray little interest in genrepainting, the expertiseacquired through the study of alchemical symbolism is ideal for such a task. Furnishedwith the findings of this thesis,historians of mainstreamalchemical art could undoubtedlyadvance the study of alchemicalemblems significantly. In line with this, a comprehensivecritique of women in alchemicalculture is ripe for production. The broad subject of womenin alchemyhas soared in popularity in the past decade. Doctoral theses,chapters and papershave explored disparate elementsof a wide field; it would be judicious, at this stage,to draw thesedistinct studiesinto

6 The vitriol with which Simon Schama's chapter 'Housewives and Hussies' is attacked by feminist critics is difficult to understand. It might be suggestedthat too often theseassaults ostensibly descend to male-bashing. See,for example, Sneller, 1994: 21-34.

182 one comprehensivereading of women in chymistry. It is possiblethat the proposedwork of M. E. Warlick, to be publishedin the coming years, will possesssuch an objective.

Furthermore,while it is essentialto excavatethe historical role of womenin the early modem chymical workshop, the role of the male demandsanchorage also. At present,numerous studiesdocument the lives and works of celebratedEuropean chyrnists and chemists. The chymical enterprisesof John Dee, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton and GeorgeStarkey, in particular, have beenchronicled by severalrecent studies. However, the undistinguished village chymists of early modem Europe remain almost completely anonymous. Again, this enterprisewould require a micro-level review of primary documentation.

Constraintspermitting, this thesis would also have conducteda closer investigationof 'profession' paintings and the relationshipscontained therein. Thus far, this genusof painting has been overlookedby scholars. This inquiry has found that representationsof men and women at work are, seemingly,governed by sharedconventions. This curious commonality deservesinvestigation and it is regrettablethat it was not within the scopeof this thesis to explore further. In particular, it would be interesting to establishthe exact extent to which chymical paintings conform to the conventionsof 'profession' painting, especiallyin their depiction of gender. Regardlessof this chymical connection,this researchis especially important becausethe study of male/femalerelationships in Netherlandishgenre painting is severelyneglected.

Building on this thesis, future researchersshould also seekto reconstructa backgroundto the historical chymical workshop. Currently, the chyrnical landscapeof genrepainting is evoked frequently by commentatorsto describethe actual historical workshop. In actuality, the dernographicalstructure of the seventeenth-centurychymical workshop eludeshistorians completely. The discrepancybetween genre painting and historical reality must be acknowledgedand investigatedproperly.

4 The Course of Alchemical Genre Painting

As suddenlyas it began,the phenomenonof Netherlandishalchemical genre painting was over. Spanningmost of the seventeenthcentury, the popularity of alchemicalgenre painting plumnietedsoon after the dawn of the eighteenthcentury. While it is difficult to pinpoint the

183 7 exact turning point, it is quite clear that the end was suddenand essentiallypermanent. This declinehas no obvious source,but it is feasible that changing attitudes in the chymical workshop, as well as wider market trends in genrepainting were responsible. By the mid- eighteenthcentury the vast majority of chymists had abandonedthe quest for the Philosophers'Stone. Pure chemistry, which once enjoyeda cult status, rapidly infiltrated academicinstitutions and societies,propelled by its increasingly Enlightenedadvocates. Mirroring this sharp ascent,alchemical genre painting in the Netherlandsembarked upon an irreversible descent. By the earliest years of the eighteenthcentury the conventionsof alchemicalgenre art were beginningto loosen. Allusions to emblembook iconographywere completely abandoned,perhaps in line with the waning popularity of the books themselves.It seems,in fact, that the governingconventions of iconology and thoseof alchemical symbology sharenumerous similarities, including their increasedunintelligibility into the eighteenthcentury. It is certainly feasible that both symbolic systemsgradually lost 'meaning' through a proliferation of unqualified and purely superficial reiteration.

Although the chyrnical workshop resurfacedsporadically in art, fewer and fewer alchemical genrepaintings were producedin the Netherlands. Engravings after David Teniers were reproducedwell into the nineteenthcentury, but the subject never returnedearnestly to painting. Usurpedby its younger, strongerprogeny, chymistry was conqueredby chemistry; chrysopoeia,it would seem,was slightly embarrassingin the wake of a brave new Enlightenedworld. Curiously, however, amidst this decline a minor revival emerged elsewhere. During the seventeenthcentury, the chymical workshop essentiallyoccurred in the genrepaintings of only Netherlandishand Italian artists. In the following two centuries, however,England, Austria, Germany and France all showedunprecedented interest in the subject.8 TheseEuropean paintings bear scant resemblanceto their Netherlandish predecessors.Diverging in numerousways, eventhe earliest eighteenth-centurypaintings betray evidenceof a fundamentallyaltered perspective.

7 The period of alchemical genre painting probably begins at around 1620 and ends in earnestaround 1710. 8 While eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuryexamples of alchemical painting are relatively uncommon, they aptly reflect this new geographical diversity. These paintings include Pietro Longhi, 77ze Alchemists, c. 1737, Museo del SettecentoVeneziano di Ca'Rezzonico, Venice; Mehdi, Alchemists, 1893, GolestanPalace, Teheran; Hippolyte de la Roche, The Alchemist, c. 1874, Wallace Collection, London; Carl Spitzweg, 7he Alchemist, mid-nineteenth century, Staatsgalerie,Stuttgart; JustusJuncker, The Village Alchemist, mid-eighteenth century, Chen-dcalHeritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.274; Franz Christoph Janneck, 7he Medical Alchemist, mid-eighteenth century, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.275; Edward Allan Schmidt, The Chemist, late nineteenth century, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.0 1.256; Charles O'Neill, 7he Alchemist, c. 1900, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.260; Franqois-Marius Granet, The Alchemist, early nineteenth century, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.03.41.

184 This deviation relatesto a dramatic shift in tone, as the pretenceof 'everydaylife' was abandonedin favour of sensationalnarrative. This step towards sensationalismand romanticism is aptly exemplified by van Benturn's Explosion in the Alchemist's Laboratory (Fig. 2) and JosephWright of Derby's The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, Discovers Phosphorus (Fig. 38). Van Benturn's alchemicalpainting, which was probably producedin the first quarter of the eighteenthcentury, is one of the last to include a female character. Developedfrom late seventeenth-centurypaintings Eke Heerschop'sAlchemist's Experiment TakesFire, this spectacularcomposition representsan evolutionary stagein alchemicalgenre painting. Where Heerschop'spainting provides a facetedcontext for his protagonist's misadventure,Explosion in the Alchemist's Laboratory is consumedentirely by the fiery glow of the unexpectedblast. As the wild, white-haired chymist raiseshis arms in defence,the mother and child shield themselvessimilarly. The mother and child, therefore, are aligned with the chyinist; little distinction is drawn betweenthe actions of the man and the actions of the family. The viewer is no longer expectedto 'read' the painting closely; the impact and messageof the painting is immediate,uncomplicated and unequivocal.

Probably somefifty years later, JosephWright of Derby resumesthis sensationalisttrend in his Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone. Mentioned in Chapter IH, this remarkablepainting evokesHennig Brandt's discovery of phosphorusin 1669. While it operatesskilfully on various levels, The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone importantly developsthe genretowards its nineteenth-centuryconclusion. Firstly, the painting tells a story; it fictionalizes a true historical event. Like Explosion in the Alchemist's Laboratory, 7he Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone is a heavily designedpiece, with no pretenceof the 'everyday. The alchemisthas becomea consciouslyconstructed fiction, far removedfrom the commonly anodynechyrnists of, for example,David Teniers. Secondly,the piece, like van Benturn's work, capturesa 'Mistake'; by the mid-eighteenth century very few artists would depict the chrysopoeianquest as a respectableendeavour. Thirdly, and most importantly, the 1771 painting unequivocally portrays the charm of a bygone age. In genuflection,the awed chymist is bathedin a radiant, almost spiritual fight. Amid this apparentsupplication, the chymist is wholly mesmerizedby the enchantmentof alchemy,probably completely ignorant of his true discovery.9

9A fascinating painting, The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone has been the subjectof much criticism. Many critics disagreewith the theory presentedhere, viewing the painting instead as a celebration of scientific discovery. This thesis, however, locates the painting within a context of the increasing fictionalization of alchemical painting. For alternative readings of this work seeDaniels, 1999; Fara, 2002: 34-35; Fraser, 1988: 277-312; Fraser, 1990; Klingender, 1947; Wallis, 1997.

185 Throughout the courseof the eighteenthcentury, alchen-ficalpainting becameincreasingly embellished,far removedfrom its genreroots. By the nineteenthcentury, what survived of the original genrewas pure whimsy. Concernedonly with clichd and romanticism,this new type of painting, having fabricated a male lead, had no needof women. Even peripheral female charactersoccur in only a handful of eighteenth-and nineteenth-centuryalchemical paintings. For the most part, depictionsof alchemy in nineteenth-centuryart are scenesof pageantry,empty of alchemicalmeaning. Charles Meer Webb's The Searchfor the Alchemical Formula (Fig. 66) epitomizesthe fashion for such theatrical re-enactment.10 Here the lone chymist sits centre-stagesurrounded by the redundantprops of an antique study. The futility of his task is only too apparentto nineteenth-centuryeyes. Transmutationhere is an impossibledream, a worthlessenterprise. Thus, the once hallowed practice of alchemical endeavouris recast as an archaic ritual of superstition and fancy; the layeredand complex narratives of the seventeenthcentury are reducedto nostalgic costumepieces, wistful dreams of a bygone age.

10Charles Meer Webb, 77zeSearchfor the Alchemical Formula, 1858, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia 00.01.281. Oil on canvas, 20 1/4" x 16 1/2". Provenance:Fisher Scientific; Gift of Mrs. Richard V. Nuttall to C. G. Fisher; Sheldon Hartford Collection; W. C. Jutte Collection, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.;Prince Demidoff Collection.

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