Art as the Mirror of All Nature (detail), Matthäus Merian the Elder, 1617–1621 Art as the Mirror of All Nature
Matthäus Merian the Elder (Swiss, 1593–1650)
Engraving in Robert Fludd, Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris . . . historia (Oppenheim, 1617–1621), vol. 1, pl. after p. 3
1378-183.v1

This encyclopedic compendium blends medicine and alchemy with scientific studies of nature, memory, and the soul. Fludd's theories on cosmic harmony involved him in a heated debate with the astronomer Johannes Kepler over the superiority of mathematical versus chemical approaches to the universe.