Emblematic gardens, alchemical gardens? The influence of the Great Work in some examples of Spanish emblems from the 16th and 17th centuries

Abstract

This study is a first approach to the points of convergence between Spanish emblematic literature and alchemy through the iconographic motif of the garden and its equivalents (cave and fountain). The garden is one of the many metaphorical equivalents of the vase where transmutation takes place. Spiritual alchemy corresponds to the operations carried out by the alchemist in his laboratory, which are commonly called black work (putrefaction of the raw material), white work (search for a new spiritualized body) and red work (crowning point of the quest and the obtaining the Philosopher’s Stone). In this perspective, the garden is the place of this transmutation that is also a mystical conversion. Emblematic literature draws on the metaphors and terminology of alchemy to better serve its purpose, which is to convey the light of true faith, ad maiorem Dei gloriam.