Opitz, Ursula
Opus magnum: Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie
with the assistance of Thomas Hofmeier
With remarkable industry the publishers Johann Theodor de Bry and Lucas Jennis brought forth a great variety of printed books on practical and spiritual alchemy between 1615 and 1630. The emerging artist Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593–1650) was commissioned to illustrate nearly 20 of those publications. In close collaboration with publishers, authors and fellow artists, Merian managed to develop sophisticated, aesthetically appealing and iconic images without having had specific iconographic templates at hand. In this anthology, 16 international authors subject the famous corpus of the Frankfurt Alchemica illustrata to a comprehensive art and cultural-historical analysis.
