The Alchemist
David Teniers the Younger
c.c.1650
This is the domain of an alchemist; a scientist who is trying to make gold. He is stirring something in a bowl, while holding a reference book. The space is filled with strange kettles, stoves and glassware. The alchemist was a popular theme in Flemish painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth century. He symbolises the man who squanders his money on futile, trivial matters and is therefore reduced to beggary.
oil on panel
27.4 x 37.4 cm.
Collection William V, transferred 1816