<p style="margin:0cm;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Arial, sans-serif;">Alchemy was the forerunner of today’s chemistry and, like medicine, was based on Greek writings that were later translated into Arabic. Alchemists tried for centuries to combine various elements to create the ‘philosopher’s stone’, which was believed to cure all kinds of diseases. The skull and bones refer to the eternal life that the philosopher’s stone was supposed to make possible.</span></p>
Alchemy was the forerunner of today’s chemistry and, like medicine, was based on Greek writings that were later translated into Arabic. Alchemists tried for centuries to combine various elements to create the ‘philosopher’s stone’, which was believed to cure all kinds of diseases. The skull and bones refer to the eternal life that the philosopher’s stone was supposed to make possible.
Tot 1999 (publicatie van de coll. cat. Schilderkunst tot 1850) was de titel 'Jongen in een laboratorium (Vanitas-voorstelling)', de datering was ca. 1630 en toeschrijving Jan Adriaensz. van Attevelt (?-Utrecht 1674).
Documentation
Centraal Museum Utrecht : overzicht 1972-1981, Afdeling Educatie en Voorlichting, (Utrecht, 1983), afb. p. 21
Centraal Museum Utrecht Mededelingen nr. 23/24 = A.C. Willink : tussen 1922 en nu, red. Hoos Blotkamp ... [et al.]. concept A.C. Willink, (Utrecht, 1978)
Fine old master pictures, 1977-10-28, (London, 1977), cat.nr. 66; afb. op plate 21
Exhibitions
De gezonde stad , Centraal Museum, Utrecht, 2022
The Body - Art and Science, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Stockholm, 2005
The Body - Art and Science, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Stockholm, 2005
Persistent url
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