Heinrich Lefler (1863-1919)
Berthold Schwarz, or Death Meeting the Alchemist
Watercolour and bodycolour, signed lower left, sheet 235 x 215 mm (9 1/4 x 8 1/2 in), under glass, horizontal scratch visible across the image, some signs of retouching, framed, [circa 1910s]

Provenance:
Christie's, London, 19th June 1986, lot 533

*** Berthold Schwarz, also known as Berthold the Black and der Schwartzer, was a legendary German (or in some accounts Danish or Greek) alchemist of the late 14th century, credited with the invention of gunpowder by 15th- through 19th-century European literature.