Alchemy : Splendor Solis , Treatise on Alchemy

An optional subject for senior pupils at Hogwarts, alchemy, at the crossroads of scientific research and magical beliefs, was historically practised by scholars throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. This color plate from the Splendor Solis, a German manuscript famous for its superb illuminations, shows us a scholar wearing the symbol of his mastery over nature, a flask from which, written on a black background, flow the words “We are in search of the four elements of nature.” Among the flowers and animals in the frame, the deer and the doe, associated with the divine, seem to be looking at him with particular interest.téléchargeabl