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Motivmigrationen und Bildtransmutationen: Von der Menagerie Kaiser Rudolfs II. in Merians Alchemische Weltlandschaft, in Wagner, Berit and Gannon, Corinna (Eds.): Opus magnum: Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie, Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net-ART-Books, 2024, p. 123–140. https://doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.1311.c19536

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https://doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.1311
ISBN 978-3-98501-245-9 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-98501-246-6 (Hardcover)

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05/08/2024

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Authors

Corinna Gannon

Motivmigrationen und Bildtransmutationen

Von der Menagerie Kaiser Rudolfs II. in Merians Alchemische Weltlandschaft

Matthaeus Merian the Elder’s alchemical imagery is populated by a diverse fauna. The visual sources that inspired the artist’s “alchemical menagerie” were equally manifold. This essay sheds light on a connection between prints produced in Rudolfine Prague, an epicenter of early modern alchemy, and the Alchemica illustrata published in Frankfurt, that is, between the imperial engraver Aegidus Sadeler and Merian. Thus, it becomes possible to identify the zoological collection of emperor Rudolf II as a possible reason for the nuanced depiction of animals in alchemical illustrations.