Cleveland Museum of Art

The Alchymist, in Search of the Philosopher's Stone, Discovers Phosphorus, and Prays for the Successful Conclusion of his Operation, as was the Custom of the Ancient Chymical Astrologers

William Pether

Date

1775

Medium

mezzotint

Culture

England, 18th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The print’s title and the medieval-looking interior filled with instruments identify the kneeling figure as an alchemist, someone who seeks the philosopher’s stone, a mythic substance that was thought to transform ordinary metals into gold and reverse the aging process. Here, the alchemist’s experiments accidentally lead him to discover the chemical element phosphorus, seen glowing in the flask before him. In choosing this moment of illumination, the artist crafted a potent allegory of the Enlightenment in which the creative force of imagination becomes true knowledge through reason and observation. Joseph Wright of Derby’s composition was based on the story of Hennig Brand, the German alchemist who accidentally discovered phosphorus in 1676.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.