Splendor Solis oder Sonnenglanz is the title of an illuminated manuscript that can rightfully be called one of the principal works of the alchemical tradition (fig. 1). The text survives in many witnesses dating from the early sixteenth to the nineteenth century, of which Harl. MS. 3469 is definitely the most famous and best preserved example. The miniatures of the Splendor Solis are doubtless among the most beautiful and best known alchemical images. There are few publications on alchemy that do not reproduce a miniature from this work, and most illustrations come from Harl. MS. 3469; William Butler Yeats praised this manuscript in his Rosa Alchemica (1897); for James Joyce it was the inspiration for book I, chapter viii of Finnegans Wake (1939); and the famous alchemist and European inventor of porcelain, Johann Friedrich Böttcher, is said to have turned to this manuscript in pursuit of the production of gold: ‘Baron Boetcher of Dresden is said to have transfused many hundredweight of Gold according to the method of this Book – He pursued the art of an Apothecary in Berlin’ (Harl. MS. 3469, later note on f. 1*v). Last but not least, the Splendor Solis is also one of the most famous examples in the Harley Collection which comprises so many other splendid manuscripts. And yet, so much about this work is still unknown and only little critical research has been conducted on it. In the context of my Ph.D. thesis of 2001, published in 2004, I closely studied manuscripts of the Splendor Solis paying particular attention to the earliest one held in the Berlin Collection of Prints and Drawings, the Kupferstichkabinett. And I also had the opportunity to study the Harley copy carefully when I spent a couple of months in London. What follows is a brief outline of the results of my studies with regard to the content, structure, text, and images of the Splendor Solis. Harl. MS. 3469 is a parchment manuscript of forty-eight numbered leaves measuring about 32 x 22.4 cm. There are seventy-two pages with text and twenty-two full-page miniatures in body colours. The provenance of the manuscript is of the highest rank, before it entered the newly founded British Museum as part of the Harley Collection in 1753. It was noted by John Evelyn in his diary on 2 September 1680 that he had seen a manuscript corresponding to the Splendor Solis in the library of King Charles II at Whitehall Palace: ‘There is also the Processe of the Philosophe[r]s greate Elixir, represented in divers pieces of incomparable miniature; but the Discourse is in high-Dut[c]h & a MSS:’. The fact that alchemy is also called ‘The Royal Art’ increasingly gains in significance in the context of this specific manuscript. Bearing in mind that Harl. MS. 3469 is not a unique copy, I will briefly turn to the question of the position of the London copy within the genealogy of the Splendor Solis

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3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily #stzuka #современноеискусство

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily‬

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

Rachels Handwriting - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

#art

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

- Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

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‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬

‪3 Stories 1 Reflection - Gabriel Gauvain - #callforart #artnow #modernartist #konst #artmagazine #artcontemporain #emergingartist #abstraction #artoninstagram #artwatchers #malerei #modernartist #artcollecting #kunstwerk #modernekunst #contemporsryfineart #studioviews_daily ‬