Artist · 2 prints
George Ripley Prints
About George Ripley
George Ripley was an English alchemist of the 15th century, born around 1415, who died around 1490. He was an Augustinian canon, a member of a community of priests living under a religious rule, at Bridlington in Yorkshire, and is often called the Canon of Bridlington. He is counted among the most famous English alchemists.
Ripley's best-known work is The Compound of Alchemy, also called the Twelve Gates, a long poem in Middle English written in 1471 and first printed in 1591. It describes the stages of making the philosopher's stone, the legendary substance alchemists hoped would perfect metals. His writings were studied and commented on in England and abroad through the 16th and 17th centuries. The Ripley Scrolls, long illustrated alchemical scrolls full of flasks, furnaces and symbolic figures, carry verses by him and bear his name, but they are generally seen as later works by other hands. Around 23 copies survive, in collections including the British Library, the Bodleian Library and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
George Ripley prints: reproductions of alchemical images associated with the 15th-century English alchemist George Ripley, made by later artists between about 1550 and 1652. The collection includes The Ripley Scroll: The Golden Winged Bird on the Black Earth (1550), The Bird of Hermes (1600) and The Wheel of Alchemy (Cælum Philosophorum) (1652).
This selection brings together three kinds of Ripley imagery: a painted detail from one of the illuminated Ripley Scrolls, the winged Bird of Hermes, and a circular diagram of the stages of the alchemical work. The recurring subjects are birds, wheels and symbolic earth and sky, and the scroll detail keeps the gold and deep colours of the manuscript.
The images suit studies, libraries, reading corners and hallways, and the circular Wheel of Alchemy works well as a single centred piece above a desk or console. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
