Matthäus Merian, Matthieu Merian

 

Matthäus Merian, Matthieu Merian

(Frankfurt ca. 22 September 1593 – 19 June 1650- Langen Schwalbach, near Wiesbaden)

Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes

Through the valuable and rich invention of printing and engraving a series of important and seminal alchemical works, Texts and Manuscripts of incalculable value for study are opened to publication and to the public.

In these engravings, originally in wood the alchemists are shown in the middle of their Magnum Opus work or in the use of their laboratory-oratory instruments.

'The famous works of Geber, one of the greatest Arab sages, were printed at Nuremberg in 1541 and at Bern in 1545. They were illustrated by engravings depicting furnaces and laboratory apparatus.' (1)

Now, Matthäus Merian was a Swiss (Basel), engraver who worked in Frankfurt for a long time.

Merian's learns the art of wood and copper work in Zürich.

He worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy and Paris before returning to Basel in 1615.

It is striking that in 1616 he moved to Oppenheim, Germany where he worked for the publicist Johann Théodor de Bry, son of the great engraver Théodor de Bry sr.

Let us remember the brilliant engraver Vedreman De Vries.

(Leeuwarden, Friesland in 1527-?)

There is no doubt that in 1617, Merian married Marïa Magdalena de Bry, daughter of the publicist.

It is most likely a mistake made by researcher Alexander Roob, namely that Merian's had married Michael Maier's daughter.

All this allows us to affirm that this was not the case, since De Bry's son-in-law was Matthieu Merian, not Maier.

Let's see: 'In 1618, Maier published his famous Corpus of Emblems entitled ''Atalanta fugiens'' in the publishing house of Theodor de Bry, in Oppenheim. To the union in marriage of Merian with the 'daughter of Maier' - it should say daughter of Bry ' - we owe not only the illustrations of 'Atalanta', but numerous engravings for the gigantic bibliographic work of art of the Englishman Robert Fludd, friend and colleague of Maier (1574-1637)

'The History of the Two Cosmos.' (2)

'One of Johann Theodore's daughters married the Swiss artist and engraver, Matthieu Merian...'(3)

Already around 1623 Merian acquired the house of advertising and engravings from his father-in-law to Bry's dy.

In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and independent publicist.

In Frankfurt together with his son-Matthäus Merian (der Jüngere="the Younger":1621–1687), he produced the series=Topographia= (21-volume Topographia Germaniae).

His work in Alchemical Illustrations del Musaeum Hermeticum (1678) and Atalanta Fugiens (1618) is valuable. (4)

As can be seen, the copper engravings made by Matthaús Merian appear in 1618 in the work of J. D. Milius=Basilica chemica, Philosophia reformata and, in the important selection of the Musaeum Hermeticum (1625), an incomparable synthesis of the Gran Magnum Opus. (5)

Lucas Jennis, was the editor of the first 'Musaeum Hermeticum' of 1625 where 'some magnificent etchings by Mattheus Merian' are presented.'

However, already in 1624, the beautiful and significant engravings of the Hortulus Hermeticus=Viridiarum Chemycum are presented. (6)

'During the whole of the reign of Frederick and Elizabeth in the palatine, that is from 1613 to 1619, Johann Theodore De Bry poured out a flood of publications from Oppenheim, on very abstruse subjects and notable for the high quality of their engraved illustrations. His son-in-law, Matthieu Merian, assisted with the engraving'.

La Rosa Alquímica and Rosa-Cruz+= La Rosa of the Honey of Bees, is one of the best-known symbols of its Emblems identified by the illustrious researcher and scholar in alchemy, Adam McLean.

'Adam McLean identified the source in an emblem book of 1615 illustrated by Merian.' (7)

First, it is worth mentioning the extraordinary work of imagery and landscapes artistically expressed in his illustrations Bíblicas=Icones Biblicae (1625-1630) and published by Johann Théodore De Bry.

'Merian was to become one of the great recorders of Europeans townscapes and topography.'

(#8)

The works of engraver and the effects of his engravings are worked in an extraordinary artistic way on the cosmological plates of Fludd's work and his 'cuts in copper' are highly esteemed by scholars of alchemy.

The valuable Museum Hermeticum is a good example of a seminal work published by Lucas Jennis in Frankfurt in 1625 in 483 pages and in his 'Reformed' edition of 863 pages in 1678; in both editions Merian's name clearly appears.' (9)

Vita-Health-Strength.

The Great Work of Matthieu Merian, The Engraver

Victor. Arturo. Cabello. Reyes

Selected Bibliography:

1. J. Van Lennep, Art and Alchemy, p.86.

2. Alexander Roob, Alchemy and Mysticism, Introduction, p.15.

3. Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, p.100.

4. Atalanta fugiens, hoc est, Emblemata nove de secretis naturae chymica=Atalanta fleeing, that is new alchemical Emblems of the Secrets of Nature,1618-por: Mathew Merian.

5. Musaeum Hermeticum Reformatum et Amplificatum, Frankfort, 1679.

6. Frances Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, p.11.

7. Joscelyn Godwin, The Greater and Lesser Worlds of Robert Fludd, p.p.12 and 59 and Adam McLean, Autobiography, p 37 and 116.

8. Joscelyn Godwin, p.109.

9. John Read, Prelude to Chemistry and Outline of Alchemy, p.p.166-167.

10. Adam McLean, Study Course on Alchemical Symbolism, Lessons.9-64,65,10-72 and 11-73)

Extra:

Topographia Helvetiae, 1645, Matthäus Merian. Alchemical illustration, Musaeum Hermeticum, 1678. Discursus XXXI, Epigramma XXXI, from Atalanta Fugiens, 1618.