The piece titled "Self-portrait with Alchemical Scene" is a painting by Pieter van Laer, a Dutch painter who was extensively active in Rome under the nickname Bamboccio.
The work subscribes to a theme that was very successful in the city of Rome, often representing alchemical and witchcraft scenes, with one of the leading representatives being the painter Angelo Caroselli, from whose authorship or school we have canvases dedicated to necromancy.
Most likely, these precedents provided the Dutch painter with a point of reference for his self-portrait that used visual elements similar to those of a student of Caroselli named Pietro Paolini. Specifically, the skull over the burning embers, the terror of the protagonists of the scene, or the approach of the devil, whose claws enter the pictorial frame.
The theme of Van Laer's painting shows a connection with the "Tragical History of Doctor Faustus," printed by Christopher Marlowe in the late 16th century. Specifically, Bamboccio's self-portrait would evoke the final scene of the tragedy when, at the end of the agreed time, the desperate Faustus is reached by the Devil who comes to take his soul surrendered years ago in exchange for knowledge. A very common motif in some 17th-century illustrations of Faustus.
The truth is that Van Laer appears next to a table loaded with objects used for a necromantic rite, not alchemical. The aforementioned skull on the coals, a cup where a reddish liquid is seen - perhaps the blood of a ritual sacrifice, a ritual knife, a glass with black insects inside, and a candle, recently extinguished in the presence of evil. A book with mysterious esoteric symbols such as a heart pierced with a dagger, perhaps suggesting a love spell, and an inverted pentacle, often associated with satanic cults, presides over the appearance.
A rolled paper from which some seeds spill might allude to the evangelical parable of the tares, therefore, to the action of the Devil. Under the signature, there is what for some is a thick spider (perhaps an idealisation of a tarantula) but it seems more an impossible creature with seven legs and tongue associated with demonic forces in the popular culture of southern Europe.
Another possible interpretation is of a lower esoteric tone and more sarcastic, since Bamboccio frequented the taverns of Rome in the company of the members of the Bentvueghels, the Nordic painters residing in the city. In this environment of the Bentvueghels, the goliardic declinations of the esoteric themes were common, as evidenced by some works by Laer and his brother Roeland. From the latter, an evocative tavern scene is preserved in Rome where on the walls of the place the same pierced heart that appears in Pieter's self-portrait and another written score of a canon in three voices are drawn, suggesting that it would be a common practice among students and young people in taverns, where there were no disc jockeys.
Finally, at the centre of this unique still life, there is a pentagram on which (in addition to the painter's signature) is written "canon a 3" (a canon in three voices) and below "Il diavolo non burla" (The Devil does not joke), whose translation admits certain broad nuances.
Perhaps the true key to the work is the grotesque and sarcastic world that shows us a bungling necromancer. An "apprentice sorcerer" whose inexperience leads him to meet the demon in person.
The other two images are Angelo Caroselli, The Necromancer, ca. 1625, oil on canvas, 44 x 35 cm, Pinacoteca Civica “F. Podesti” – Ancona
Pietro Paolini, Necromancer, ca. 1630, oil on canvas, 70 x 93 cm, Collezione Cavallini Sgarbi, Ferrara
