Explaining the Universe

Michael Maier, Atalanta fugiens. Oppenheim: Hieronymus Galler, 1618. 4to

In this famous work, Michael Maier (1568-1622) uses the myth of Atalanta to describe alchemical processes. A multimedia work avant la lettre, the book contains fifty engravings accompanied by brief comments, epigrams, and fugues composed by Maier himself, although he borrowed liberally from a book of canons by the English composer John Farmer (c.1570-c.1601). The three-part fugues illustrate the myth: the upper voice is that of Atalanta; the second voice, which follows, is that of Hippomenes. The third voice is that of the apple, whose sustained notes create an impression of delay. Atalanta, Hippomenes, and the apple respectively symbolize quicksilver, sulphur, and salt, the components of the Philosopher’s Stone.