Matter, Three and One

A cloaked figure lifts a scythe over a white, many-headed beast breathing fire, with the furnace drawn waiting below.

Work: Thesaurus thesaurorum et secretum secretissimum (Wellcome MS 4775)
Artist / creator: Unknown author and illustrator
Origin & date: Probably c. 1725 (catalogue date "[1725?]"); Latin, with additions in German verse
Held by: Wellcome Collection, London (MS 4775)

Format

The full-resolution color-managed file — yours to print, study, and keep.

Size

Sized to protect print quality — this scan’s resolution supports sizes up to 18x24 cleanly.

$24.00

The story

A cloaked figure raises a scythe beside a horned companion, and in front of them a pale beast with several heads spits fire toward a dark animal crouched in a cave of yellow rock. A small sun and a crescent moon hang above. The heading names the subject: Materia trina et una, matter that is three and one. Under the scene the painter switches from allegory to equipment, drawing a brick furnace with flasks on its top, a pair of glass vessels, a stand, a bowl and a pierced ash plate. The Thesaurus thesaurorum, catalogued by the Wellcome as probably from about 1725, does this on page after page: the dream sits on top and the kit you would need sits underneath it, painted with the same care.

About this reproduction

Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from Wellcome Collection, London (MS 4775)’s open-access release.
Printed to order on archival cotton-rag stock, pigment inks rated 100+ years.
Color-managed to the source scan.
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Image courtesy of the Wellcome Collection, London, licensed CC BY 4.0.

In situ