Heinrich Khunrath

Heinrich Khunrath Medicinae Doctoris
Born	1560 Dresden, Electorate of Saxony
Died	9 September 1605(1605-09-09) (aged 44–45)
Nationality	German
Other names	Henrico; Henrici
Occupation	Physician
Known for	Hermetic philosophy, alchemy
Notable work	Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae

Heinrich Khunrath (c. 1560 – 9 September 1605), or Dr. Henricus Khunrath as he was also called, was a German

Khunrath's brushes with John Dee and Thölde and Paracelsian beliefs led him to develop a Christianized

His most famous work on alchemy is the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom), a work on the mystical aspects of that art, which contains the oft-seen engraving entitled "The First Stage of the Great Work", better-known as the "Alchemist's Laboratory". The book was first published at Hamburg in 1595, with four circular elaborate, hand-colored, engraved plates heightened with gold and silver which Khunrath designed and were engraved by Paullus van der Doort. The book was then made more widely available in an expanded edition with the addition of other plates published posthumously in Hanau in 1609. Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae is an alchemical classic, combining both Christianity and magic. In it, Khunrath showed himself to be an adept of spiritual alchemy and illustrated the many-staged and intricate path to spiritual perfection. Khunrath's work was important in Lutheran circles. John Warwick Montgomery has pointed out that Johann Arndt (1555–1621), who was the influential writer of Lutheran books of pietiesm and devotion, composed a commentary on Amphitheatrum. Some of the ideas in his works are Kabbalistic in nature and foreshadow Rosicrucianism.

Death

Khunrath may have encountered some opposition to his alchemical work because most of his publications on alchemy were published widely after his death. He died in either Dresden or Leipzig on 9 September 1605. The tension between spirituality and experiment in Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae brought about its

Carlos Gilly; Anja Hallacker; Hanns-Peter Neumann, eds. (2013). Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae – Schauplatz der ewig allein wahren Weisheit (in Latin and German) (Clavis Pansophiae 6 ed.). Stuttgart - Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog. p. 500.

ISBN 978-3-7728-1628-4. Archived from the original on 16 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2014. - Reprint of the first (Hamburg 1595) and second (last) edition (Hanau 1609), together with a transcription of a German translation (18th century).^[2]

Further reading

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Heinrich Khunrath" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

• Forshaw, Peter (2006a). "Alchemy in the Amphitheatre': Some consideration of the alchemical content of the engravings in Heinrich Khunrath's Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom (1609)". In Wamberg, Jacob (ed.). Art and Alchemy. Museum Tusculanum Press. Retrieved 12 December 2021 – via academia.edu.
• Forshaw, Peter J. (2006b). "Curious Knowledge and Wonder-Working Wisdom in the Occult Works of Heinrich Khunrath". In Evans, R. J. W.; Marr, Alexander (eds.). Curiosity and Wonder from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Ashgate: Aldershot. Retrieved 12 December 2021 – via academia.edu.
• Forshaw, Peter J. (2021). "A Necessary Conjunction: Cabala, Magic, and Alchemy in the Theosophy of Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605)". In Hedesan, G. D.; Rudbøg, T. (eds.). Innovation in Esotericism from the Renaissance to the Present. London: Palgrave Macmillan – via academia.edu.
• Forshaw, Peter (2007). "Subliming Spirits: Physical-Chemistry and Theo-Alchemy in the Works of Heinrich Khunrath (1560–1605)". In Linden, Stanton J. (ed.). "Mystical Metal of Gold": Essays on Alchemy and Renaissance Culture. AMS Press.
• Franklyn, Julian, ed. (1990). A Survey of the Occult. Electric Book Company.
• Montgomery, John Warwick (June 1963). "Lutheran Astrology and Lutheran Alchemy in the Age of the Reformation". Ambix: The Journal of the Society for the Study of Alchemy and Early Chemistry. 11: 65–86.
• Szulakowska, Urszula (2000). The Alchemy of Light.
  Brill Academic Publishers
  .

External links

Media related to Heinrich Khunrath at Wikimedia Commons

• University of Wisconsin-Madison site on Khunrath's Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae including biography and bibliography.
• The naturall Chymicall Symboll or short Confession of Doctor Kunwrath
• Khunrath Portrait
• Heinrich Khunrath at the Galileo Project
• A Philosophicall short songe of the incorporating of the Spirit of the Lord in Salt (archive)
• "An Interpretation of the Alchemy Lab Drawing" by John Read
• The Alchemy of the Amphitheatrum - a 2012 webinar by Peter Forshaw about Heinrich Khunrath on the website of the
  Ritman Library
  , Amsterdam.
• A Not-So-Lazy Henry: Heinrich Khunrath in his Laboratory - 2022 online seminar of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry given by Peter Forshaw