Alchemist's Cabinet - Thomas Wyck (1616 - 1677)

Oil on canvas laid on panel. In a narrow and dark room, the alchemist wearing a large beret studies old manuscripts on his desk desk. The scene is lit by the penetrating light through a curved window. The elements that make up our painting (celestial globe, inkwell, bottle and jars, curtain raised on a rod, books and crumpled sheets arranged pell-mell, window partitioned lead wire) are recurrent in the work of Thomas Wyck who painted many scenes on the same theme. Traces of signature at the bottom center ".... ck ".
The painting is set in majesty in a Venetian blackened wooden frame of the seventeenth century.

Dimensions: 67 x 62 cm with frame

Thomas Wyck (Beverwijk 1616 - Haarlem 1677) is a painter of the Dutch genre of the golden century. He grew up in a family of painters, and his father taught him painting. In 1640, he began his journey to Italy where he is known as Tommaso Fiammingo. During his Roman stay, he was associated with the painter family called the Bamboccianti. On his return to the Netherlands, he moved to Haarlem and joined the Guild of St. Luke. Thanks to the many drawings he makes during his trip to Italy, he is distinguished by works representing coastal landscapes and maritime scenes. Fascinated by the development of occultism in Europe in the seventeenth century, he is known for dozens of works featuring alchemists' cabinets.