How to Cite
Zotov, Sergei: Merian’s Juggling with Motifs - Juggling with Merian’s Motifs: Iconographical Borrowings in and from Merian’s Alchemical Works, in Wagner, Berit and Gannon, Corinna (Eds.): Opus magnum: Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie, Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2024, p. 219–233. https://doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.1311.c19540
License (Chapter)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Identifiers (Book)
ISBN 978-3-98501-245-9 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-98501-246-6 (Hardcover)
Published
05/08/2024
Merian’s Juggling with Motifs - Juggling with Merian’s Motifs
Iconographical Borrowings in and from Merian’s Alchemical Works
This article examines the evolution of alchemical iconography, spotlighting Matthäus Merian the Elder's innovative role. Tracing the origins to early European alchemical treatises with allegorical images, the study illuminates their overlooked influence on subsequent traditions. Merian actively used motifs from older alchemical works, mainly manuscripts, and his reinterpretation of them reshaped alchemical imagery in the following tradition. Consequently, his reimagined iconography underwent reinterpretation in diverse illuminated manuscripts.
