(Antwerp 1623 – after 1679 Brussels)
An alchemist in his study,
signed lower left: MV/ Helmont/F,
oil on canvas, 60 x 80 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, The Netherlands, 2017;
where bought by the present owner

A comparable work with the same subject (signed, oil on canvas, 59 x 83.5 cm.) was sold at Christie’s, Mauerbach, 29 October 1996, lot 33.

The present picture, with its beautifully lit domestic interior, brimming with still-lifes and the human activity of the busy alchemist’s assistants is a characteristic work of Mattheus van Helmont. Although scenes of alchemy, often humorously depicted, were a genre of Flemish painting in their own right, Mattheus, as a relative of the famous Jan Baptist van Helmont (1580–1644) who gave science the word ‘gas’ from the Greek ‘chaos’, is likely drawing on his own familial experiences (see A. Michiels, Histoire de la peinture flamande, depuis ses débuts jusqu’en 1864, Paris, 1869, vol. 10, p. 413). The figure of the alchemist, who holds a glass beaker of liquid up to the light, while writing in his tome is, sympathetically rendered, and appears to show him engaged in empirical observation, making this possibly a portrait of the late Jan Baptist.

Mattheus van Helmont specialised in interiors and village scenes. He was influenced by David Teniers II, David Ryckaert III and Adriaen Brouwer. In the final phase of his career he developed his own personal style. His known works can be dated to the period from 1638 to 1670.