Artist · 12 prints
After Nicolas Flamel Prints
About Nicolas Flamel
Nicolas Flamel was a real Parisian of the Middle Ages, born around 1330, who died in Paris in 1418. He earned his living as a professional scribe, writing contracts, letters and other documents, and with his wife Perenelle he grew wealthy through property. The couple gave generously to churches, hospitals and the poor. A house he built on the rue de Montmorency in 1407 still stands among the oldest in Paris, and his carved tombstone is kept at the Musée de Cluny.
There is no evidence that the historical Flamel ever practised alchemy. His fame as an alchemist who found the philosopher's stone, a legendary substance said to turn metal into gold and grant long life, grew up long after his death. The Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, published in Paris in 1612 under his name, presented him as a master alchemist and spread the legend widely. The prints in this collection are designs after alchemical images that were attributed to Flamel after his death, not reproductions of works made by Flamel himself.
After Nicolas Flamel prints: reproductions of later alchemical etchings and watercolours made after images attributed to the medieval Parisian Nicolas Flamel. These are designs after the Flamel legend, not works by Flamel himself. The collection includes The Red King, the Queen and Mercury, Three Riders on Black, Red and White Lions, Dragons and Griffins around a Lone Flowering Tree, and The Pregnant Virgin Mary with a Dragon at Her Feet (1772).
This selection gathers the symbolic figures of alchemy: kings and queens, dragons, griffins, lions, a seven-headed hydra, furnaces and the figure of Mercury. Several images borrow from Christian scenes, such as Christ between seven candlesticks and the Magi in a cave. Each picture stood for a stage in the alchemist's work, and the strong reds, blacks and whites carry that coded meaning.
The images suit studies, libraries, reading rooms and hallways, and work well hung as a set. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
