L'alchimiste

'L'Alchimiste' Original painting by David Teniers (before 1690). This version engraved by Jacques-Louis Pérée, 1769.

Alchemy Laboratories

also:
Alchemy Index
History of Alchemy
Newton the Alchemist
The Alchemy Web Site
Gallery of alchemical images
The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry

Paracelsus

Presumed portrait of Paracelsus, attributed to the school of Quentin Matsys

Paracelsus gained a reputation for being arrogant, and soon garnered the anger of other physicians in Europe. He held the chair of medicine at the University of Basel for less than a year; while there his colleagues became angered by allegations that he had publicly burned traditional medical books....

He then wandered Europe, Africa and Asia Minor, in the pursuit of hidden knowledge....