Aurora consurgens

The Aurora consurgens is an illuminated manuscript of the 15th century in the Zürich Zentralbibliothek (MS. Rhenoviensis 172). It contains a medieval alchemical treatise, in the past sometimes attributed to Thomas Aquinas, now to a writer called the "Pseudo-Aquinas". Unusually for a work of this type, the manuscript contains thirty-eight fine miniatures in watercolour. The illustrations are allegorical representations of alchemical elements depicted in human or animal form. For example, mercury is depicted as a serpent; gold as the Sun and silver as the Moon.^[1]

Other illuminated manuscripts of the Aurora consurgens include:

• Glasgow University Library MS. Ferguson 6;
• Leiden, MS. Vossiani Chemici F. 29;
• Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, MS. Parisinus Latinus 14006;
• Prague, Universitni Knihovna, MS. VI. Fd. 26;
• Prague, Chapitre Métropolitain, MS. 1663. O. LXXIX;
• Berlin, Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz, MS. Germ. qu. 848.

Notes

1. ^ Obrist, Barbara. "Visualization in Medieval Alchemy". International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry.

References

• Aquinas, St Thomas. Aurora Consurgens (1966) edited by Marie-Louise von Franz

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