The Alchemical Virgin Mary in the Religious and Political Context of the Renaissance

30 Pages·2012·0.32 MB·English

The Alchemical Virgin
Mary in the Religious
and Political Context
of the Renaissance

The Alchemical Virgin
Mary in the Religious
and Political Context
of the Renaissance
By
Urszula Szulakowska
The Alchemical Virgin Mary in the Religious and Political Context
of the Renaissance

By Urszula Szulakowska

This book first published 2017

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Copyright © 2017 by Urszula Szulakowska

All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without
the prior permission of the copyright owner.

ISBN (10): 1-4438-5575-8
ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-5575-4
CONTENTS

List of Illustrations .................................................................................... vii

Acknowledgements .................................................................................... ix

Introduction ................................................................................................. 1

Chapter One ............................................................................................... 11
Alchemy, Apocalyptic Discourse and the Spiritual Franciscans

Chapter Two .............................................................................................. 27
The Woman on the Crescent Moon and her Shadows: The Virgin Mary
in Catholic Doctrine and in Alchemy

Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 37
The Turkish Madonna

Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 55
The Apocalyptic Mary in Das Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit
(1419; 1433)

Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 80
The Paracelsian Tincture and the Oil of Gold

Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 88
The Alchemical Bride in the Rosarium Philosophorum (1550)

Chapter Seven .......................................................................................... 111
Marian Imagery in Reusner’s Pandora (1582; 1588)

Chapter Eight ........................................................................................... 131
Mary as Sophia, the Holy Virgin, in Paracelsian Theosophy

Chapter Nine ............................................................................................ 149
Catholic Iconography in Protestant Alchemy and Lutheran Religious
Imagery
vi Contents

Chapter Ten ............................................................................................. 172
Was There a “Roman Catholic” Alchemy?

Conclusion ............................................................................................... 192

Bibliography ............................................................................................ 196

Index ........................................................................................................ 215
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig. 2.-1 The quintessence between her parents the Sun and Moon from
Johann Daniel Mylius, Philosophia Reformata (Frankfurt: Luca Jennis,
1622), n.p. With the permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark
1033. i. 7
Fig. 3-2 Apocalyptic Woman, Michael Maier, Symbola Aureae Mensae
Duodecim Nationum (Frankfurt: Luca Jennis, 1617), p. 509. With the
permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark 1033. k. 6
Fig. 3-3 Emblem of Raymundus Lullius in Johann Daniel Mylius, Opus
Medico-Chymicum (Frankfurt: Luca Jennis, 1618), n.p. With the
permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark 1033. l. 4
Fig. 4-4 Coronation of the Virgin Mary in Das Buch der Heiligen
Dreifaltigkeit, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS BSB Cgm
598, f. 26r. With the permission of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek,
Munich
Fig. 4-5 Cryptic emblem of the Holy Trinity from Das Buch der Heiligen
Dreifaltigkeit, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS BSB Cgm
598, f. 24r. With the permission of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek,
Munich
Fig. 4-6 The first image of the Virgin Mary beneath the Lily Cross in Das
Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
MS BSB Cgm 598, f. 79r. With the permission of the Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Fig. 4-7 The first alchemical hermaphrodite as the Anti-Christ in Das
Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
MS BSB Cgm 598, f. 105v. With the permission of the Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Fig. 4-8 The second alchemical hermaphrodite in Das Buch der Heiligen
Dreifaltigkeit, Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek BSB Cgm 598, f.
106v. With the permission of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Fig. 6-9 The first alchemical hermaphrodite in the Rosarium
Philosophorum (Frankfurt-am-Main: Cyriacus Jacobus, 1550). With
the permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark 1032. c. 1
Fig. 6-10 The second alchemical hermaphrodite in the Rosarium
Philosophorum (Frankfurt-am-Main: Cyriacus Jacobus, 1550). With
the permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark 1032. c. 1
viii List of Illustrations

Fig. 7-11 The “Old” and “New” Eves in Michael Faustius, Pandora
(Frankfurt, 1706), fig. “M.” With the permission of the British Library:
Shelf-mark 1152. a. 23
Fig. 7-12 The “elixir album” in Michael Faustius, Pandora (Frankfurt,
1706), fig. “S.” With the permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark
1152. a. 23
Fig. 8-13 Emblem of the Immaculate Conception from Jacob Boehme, De
incarnatione verbi, oder Von der Menschwerdung Jesu Christi (1620)
in Johann Georg Gichtel and Johann Wilhelm Ueberfeld (eds.),
Theosophia Revelata. Alle Gottliche Schriften des Gottseligen und
Hocherleuchteten Deutschen Theosophi Jacob Bohmens (First edition
Amsterdam: Johann Georg Gichtel, 1730; Second edition Hamburg,
1715.) With the permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark 765. i.
12
Fig. 8-14 Emblem of the Immaculate Conception from Jacob Boehme,
Psychologia vera, oder Viertzig Fragen Von der Seelen (1620) in
Johann Georg Gichtel and Johann Wilhelm Ueberfeld (eds.),
Theosophia Revelata. Alle Gottliche Schriften des Gottseligen und
Hocherleuchteten Deutschen Theosophi Jacob Bohmens). (First
incomplete edition, 1682. First complete edition, Amsterdam: Gichtel,
1730. Second complete edition Hamburg, 1715). With the permission
of the British Library: Shelf-mark 765. i. 12
Fig. 9-15 Figure of “Natura” and the Empyreum in Robert Fludd’s
“Macrocosmos,” Utriusque Cosmi … Historia, I (Oppenheim: Johann
Theodore de Bry, 1617), p. 4. With the permission of the British
Library: Shelf-mark C.79. d. 7
Fig. 9-16 The alchemist with Adam and Eve in Johann Daniel Mylius,
Opus Medico-Chymicum (Frankfurt: Luca Jennis, 1618), n.p. With the
permission of the British Library: Shelf-mark 1033. l. 4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am grateful for the assistance of the following libraries and
institutions: British Library, London; Bodleian Library, Oxford; Rare
Books Collection, Brotherton Library, Leeds University; Ferguson
Collection, University of Glasgow; Wellcome Institute Library, London;
Warburg Institute Library, University of London; Alnwick Castle archives,
Alnwick, Northumberland; Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich;
Beinecke Library, Yale University; Getty Research Institute Library, Los
Angeles; Institute of the History of Art Library, Jagiellonian University,
Kraków; Fisher Library, University of Sydney; University of Queensland
Library, Brisbane; Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence; Biblioteca
Nazionale-Centrale, Florence; Alsóvárosi Templom (Lower City Franciscan
Church), Szeged; Krestoproishozhdenskyy Monastery, Pidkamin, Ukraine;
Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, Kamieniec Podolski, Ukraine; Chapel of
Our Lady of Ostrabrama, Vilnius; Stary Ratusz, Gdańsk; Muzeum
Narodowe, Gdańsk; Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary, Gdańsk; Muzeum Narodowe, Warszawa; Cathedral of St. Clemens,
Aarhus.
Many colleagues over the years have offered advice and engaged in
valuable discussions concerning the history of art and alchemy in the
Renaissance and early modern period. I would particularly like to
acknowledge the encouragement and interest of Professor Bernard Smith
and Dr. Mark Pritchard of the Power Institute, University of Sydney. I also
had the good fortune to be able to consult with the late Dame Frances
Yates and Mr. Daniel Walker Pickering at the Warburg Institute. I would
also like to thank the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural
Studies at the University of Leeds for facilitating research funding and
study leave.

Urszula Szulakowska
2016