Artist Info: Michael Maier

Michael Maier (1568–1622) was a German physician, a counsellor to Rudolf II Habsburg and a learned alchemist.

Maier was born in Rendsburg, Holstein, in 1568. He studied philosophy and medicine at Rostock (1587), Frankfurt (Oder) (M.A. 1592), and Padua. He attained in 1596 a doctorate in medicine at Basel, and returned to Rostock to practice the medical profession. He also briefly (c. 1601) practised in Konigsberg and Danzig. Around this time he became interested in alchemy. [read more...]