Divine Wisdom - Divine Nature

Published to mark the fourth centenary of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes in 2014-2016, this lavishly illustrated volume focuses on a specific visual culture of the early 17th century. This visual culture partly originated in a circle of artists and authors who were directly inspired by the Rosicrucian Manifestoes and by similar sources expressing the relationship between God and Nature, macrocosm and microcosm.

The first part of this volume considers aspects of the Rosicrucian movement and is largely indebted to the research by Rosicrucian specialist Carlos Gilly. The second part considers the images in the works of five authors: Heinrich Khunrath, Daniel Mögling, Stephan Michelspacher, Robert Fludd and Michael Maier. Master engraver Matthäus Merian the Elder illustrated the works of Maier and Fludd; four out of five authors claimed allegiance to the ideals of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. The second part concludes with a description of one of the most stunning images in a manuscript (c.1735) of the Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer.

Keywords: Rosicrucian Brotherhood, early 17th-century visual culture, Hermetism and alchemy.