Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
obviously copying each other and themselves hundreds of times. Dozens
of paintings of this motif are known, including those of David Teniers
the Elder (1582-1649), Adriaen Brouwer (1605-1638), Joos van Craes-
beck (1605-1661), Adriaen van Ostade (1610-1685), David Teniers the
Younger (1610-1690), Jan Olis (1610-1676), David Ryckaert the
Younger (1612-1661), Gerard Dou (1613-1675), Thomas Wyck (c.1616-
1677), Gerard (II) Ter Borch (1617-1681), Matheus Van Helmont (1623-
1679), Jan Steen (1626-1679), Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627-1678),
Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667), Abraham van Dyck (1635-1672), Gilles van
Tilborgh (c.1635-c.1678), Frans van Mieris (1635-1681), Jacob van
Toorenvliet (c.1635-1719), Godfried Schalcken (1643-1706), Gerard
Thomas (1663-1720), and Balthasar van den Bossche (1681-1715).
9
Neither uroscopy nor the general image of a man gazing at a flask in
his hand was part of the otherwise rich iconology of alchemical text illus-
trations. However, in the works of the Flemish and Dutch genre painters
this motif became closely associated with alchemy. Indeed, many of the
artists cited above also produced paintings of alchemists. The association
of the uroscopy icon with alchemy was fostered for several reasons.
First, alchemists or chymists had long used glass flasks that were similar
in shape to the classical matula. Second, Paracelsian iatrochemistry had
given a boost to uroscopy through the distillation and quasi-chemical
analysis of urine. Third, both classical alchemists and Paracelsian iatro-
chemists, like uroscopists, were the subject of numerous satires and bit-
ing pamphlets accusing them of imposture and fraud.
A selection of paintings from David Teniers the Younger illustrates
how uroscopy and alchemy became visually melded. In many of his al-
chemist paintings Teniers employed one of the two classical satirical mo-
tifs in the foreground: the reading alchemist (Figure 5a) or the puffer al-
chemist (Figure 5c). To show that the first motif is not a symbol of
esteemed scholarship, it is useful to compare it with the Italian painting
Jesus and the doctors of the Faith
(Figure 5b) which Teniers took as the
model for his reading alchemist.
10
During the Renaissance the image of
9
This list is compiled from various sources, notably from Holländer 1903, Read 1947,
Zglinicki 1982, and Principe & DeWitt 2002.
10
Teniers knew this painting at least since 1651 when it became part of the collection in
Brussels that he supervised (Klinge & Lüdke 2005, p. 278).
