1. The Arms of the Art
I have something of an obsession with the plates of the allegorical alchemical text known as the Splendor Solis, hence another post on the subject. This new entry is partly a bookmark for my own convenience, and also a pointer for those who keep arriving here searching for these images.
The plates this time are taken from this 1922 edition at the Internet Archive which presents pages from the copy at the British Library. The colours in the reprint are washed-out and have a reddish cast but that can be easily adjusted using image editing software. The British Library has photos of their pages online for comparison. The BL edition is fenced about with the usual copyright warnings whereas the Internet Archive version is a free download here.
2. Philosopher with Flask
3. The Knight on the Double Fountain
4. Solar King and Lunar Queen Meet
The Seven Parables: 5. Miners Excavating Hill
6. Philosophers Beside Tree
7. Drowning King
8. Resurrection out of the Swamp
9. Hermaphrodite with Egg
10. Severing the Head of the King
11. Boiling the Body in the Vessel
The Seven Flasks: 12. Saturn – Dragon and Child
13. Jupiter – Three Birds
14. Mars – Triple-headed Bird
15. Sun – Triple-headed Dragon
16. Venus – Peacock’s Tail
17. Mercury – The White Queen
18. Moon – The Red King
19. The Black Sun
20. Children at Play
21. Women Washing Clothes
22. Sun Rising over the City
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Laurie Lipton’s Splendor Solis
• The Arms of the Art
• Splendor Solis
• Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae
• Cabala, Speculum Artis Et Naturae In Alchymia
• Digital alchemy
These are really pretty and suggestive illustrations, thank you for sharing. I’m familiar with one of them (philosopher with flask) as it appears on some book, by Joscelyn Godwin I think, that is always in my amazon recommendations.
Just a quick question, were the flasks/planets in the proper qabalistic descending order in the book or did you arrange them that way? It could easily be coincidence except that I believe that the Sun is usually not placed between Mars and Venus in astrological terms.
These are all in the order they’re printed in. I hadn’t realised before there are 22 pictures, same number as in the Major Arcana of the Tarot. The paintings often remind me of Tarot images.
The symbolism is primarily alchemical so has little connection with the Kabbalah. Symbolism in alchemy is a mutable thing but in this book the Sun represents the Great Work itself rather than any planetary attribute. The Sun rising at the end of the book signifies the Great Work accomplished. Same with the other planets, animals, etc, all of which have allegorical significance.
Neat Tarot connection!
I have precious little knowledge of historical alchemy or alchemy in practice…and what I do know is through the lens of connecting it to Tiphereth and the Holy Guardian Angel &c.
A lot of it meshes surprisingly well with Qabalah though, but that’s probably more in the Qabalist’s imagination than in historical fact. But that’s the trick if one is into that sort of thing you know?
Nice! A few I had never seen. The Black Sun remains my favourite.