The Destruction of a Furnace (Passavant VI.152.12)
Lot Closed
December 9, 02:28 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Domenico Beccafumi
1486 - 1551
The Destruction of a Furnace (Passavant VI.152.12)
Woodcut, circa 1540, from The Various Operations of Alchemy, framed
sheet: 171 by 111mm 6¾ by 4⅜in
Ex coll. Unknown collector’s mark; Reinhold von Liphart (L. 1758)
From the series of ten prints on the Various Operations of Alchemy dated between 1525 – 1540, this woodcut is amongst the earliest graphic depictions of alchemical imagery, which Vasari referred to as “fanciful little stories of alchemy”. It has been suggested that they were intended to illustrate the Pirotechnia, a book of practical instruction published in 1540 by the Sienese metallurgist Vannoccio Biringuccio (c. 1480 - c. 1539), but no evidence is known.
