Alchemy, the royal art of transforming stones into silver and base metals into gold, has captured the popular imagination for centuries and is a particularly fruitful subject for artists. Examining a sphere in which art and science overlap, this fascinating and lavishly illustrated book explores the many intersections and common concerns of the two disciplines. It depicts the alchemical laboratory, portraits of famous alchemists and traces the occult, Baroque, surrealist and psychological influences on the artists' view of alchemy. This study also sheds light on our changing understanding of the world and our position in it.