Gold – Renaissance Alchemy Interior Engraving after Tourrier, ca.1860
€ 315
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1860
Sheet size
24 × 32 cm (9.4 × 12.6 in)
Condition
Excellent
Reference
BG-14293-7
Condition
Overall in excellent antique condition with light age-related toning and minor handling wear to the margins. The engraved image remains clean and sharp with strong contrast and excellent detail. Please review the images for further condition details.
About this sheet
A scene of alchemy in a Renaissance workshop, an original steel engraving titled "Gold", painted by A.H. Tourrier and engraved by G. Greatbach, and published by D. Appleton and Company of New York around 1860.
The scene takes place in a dim stone chamber with a vaulted fireplace. At the left foreground stand a distillation flask on a tripod and a small cauldron on the floor. In the center a bowing woman in a long gown holds a purse before a bearded scholar, while a gentleman in a plumed hat and sword stands beside them. Two more figures wait at the back, and at the right a seated man in an elaborate costume and plumed cap watches with one hand raised. Shelves of flasks and apparatus line the right wall.
The plate shows the nineteenth-century taste for historical genre scenes of the old sciences, with the alchemist's search for gold as its subject. The painter and engraver credits appear at the lower left and right, and the Appleton imprint at the foot.
