To the Noble, Well-Honored,

Highly Esteemed and

Highly Learned Gentleman

Johann Friedrich

Helvetius, world-renowned

Doctor of Medicine and Practi-

tioner in The Hague, etc. Johann Friedrich Helvetius (c. 1630–1709) was a prominent Dutch physician of German descent, famous for his reported witness of alchemical transmutation in his work The Golden Calf.

Noble, Well-Honored,

Highly Esteemed and Highly Learned,

Especially Most Highly Honored

Ornate decorative initial 'W' featuring interlaced foliate scrollwork and vine motifs.

What the Ancients indicated with their drawings of the Sun and Moon, as well as [the image of] a distinguished Old Man original: "eines ansehnlichen Alten" surrounded by a great flock of flying and darting birds These are classic alchemical allegories: the Sun and Moon represent the primary polarities (gold/silver, soul/spirit), while the "Old Man" and birds often symbolize the process of sublimation and the volatile nature of matter. on painted panels—about which much is also found in books...