The Alchemist and His Wife

When Chester Fisher commissioned this copy of a painting by David Ryckaert III (1612–1661) that was in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, in Brussels, it was long assumed that the painting depicted the famous Nicolas Flamel (ca. 1340–1418) and his wife Perenelle, pursuing an alchemical experiment. The Flamels gained a posthumous reputation as alchemists, but their connection with alchemy is now debated. Newer thinking about David Ryckaert III's composition proposes that it is far likelier a genre scene of an anonymous husband-and-wife team practicing alchemy in a domestic setting.