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-ART-Books, 2024, p. 219–233. https://doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.1311.c19540

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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)

Published

05/08/2024

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Authors

Sergei Zotov

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.