Object Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
The Alchemist's Experiment Takes Fire |
Object Name |
Painting |
Object ID |
FA 2000.001.276 |
Description |
The alchemist's experiment has erupted in a sudden fire, with glass shattering in midair and smoke billowing upward. The alchemist is seated awkwardly in his chair with a startled expression on his face, having turned quickly in a panic. He is seated near a table, with a red cloth and open book bearing an alchemical illustration. A large mortar and pestle, as well as a pair of bellows, sit at his feet. The alchemist is working at home, as we see in the background an adjoining room where his wife is changing the diaper of a baby. |
Artist |
Heerschop, Hendrik |
Date |
1687 |
Dimensions |
H-22.375 W-18.75 inches |
Material |
Oil Paint, Canvas |
Medium |
Painting |
Collection |
Fisher Collection |
Search Terms |
Alchemists Alchemy Distillation apparatus Bellows Books - Illustrated Children Domesticity Earthenware Explosion Family - Domestic Life Flask Furnace Jars Laboratories Mortar & Pestle Painting Retort Seventeenth century Heerschop, Hendrik |
Provenance |
Sir William Jackson Pope, May 1928 [probably acquired from Van Duren Gallery, London]. [1] Fisher Scientific, acquired by Chester Fisher prior to 1965 - 2000, ID number 46. The Chemical Heritage Foundation, 2000. [1] Daniel Deronda Berolzheimer reproduced the painting in Industrual and Engineering Chemistry, vol 30, 1938. He noted that Pope sent him the photograph directly, along with the acquisition information that he bought it in May 1928. An RKD photomount of the painting lists it in Van Duren Gallery, London, 1928. |