Sergei Zotov
I completed my BA in German Philology at Saratov State University under the supervision of Prof. Vadim Mikhailin and obtained my MA in Cultural Studies at RSUH, Moscow, co-supervised by Prof. Vyacheslav Ivanov and Dr Irina Protopopova. From 2017 to 2021, I worked at the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel on an early modern alchemical images projectLink opens in a new window led by Dr Stefan Laube, as well as on a medieval book history projectLink opens in a new window led by Dr Gia Toussaint. From 2020 to 2024, I was a PhD candidate at the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, co-supervised by Prof. Ingrid De Smet and Dr Michael Bycroft.
My PhD thesis, Alchemical Iconography as a Mediator of Knowledge: Visualising Science in European Alchemical Manuscripts of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, focuses on analysing and conceptualising alchemical scientific schemes and allegorical images from European treatises, mainly German and English, including 15th-century works such as Ripley’s Scroll, Buch der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, and Aurora consurgens, as well as 16th-century treatises like the Rosarium philosophorum, Crowning of Nature, and others.
After completing my PhD, I became an Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick, and a Frances A. Yates Long-Term Fellow at the Warburg Institute, University of London.
Articles & Book Chapters
Crucified upon Metals and Alphabets: Alchemical Iconography of the Sixteen-Century Illustrated Treatises by Martin Sturtz, The British Journal for the History of Science, 2025 (in print).
Islamic Evangelists and Christian Acrobats: Reinterpretations of Religious Otherness in Arabic and European Alchemical Illumination, in Philip Forness and Stanislau Palau (eds.), Interreligious Appropriations (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2025) (in print).
Smelling Good While Conjuring the Spirits. Use of ‘Perfumes’ in Medieval and Early Modern Magic Books, in Stefan Laube (ed.), Material, Visual, and Practical Dimensions of Early Modern How-to Books (Leiden: Brill, 2024), pp. 237—268.
Sources of Alchemical Cryptography, in Michelle Waldispühl and Beáta Megyesi (eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024 (Tartu: D-Space, 2024), pp. 161—173 (co-authored by Sarah Lang and Megan Piorko).
Merian’s Juggling with Motifs – Juggling with Merian’s Motifs. Iconographical Borrowings in and from Merian’s Alchemical Works, in Berit Wagner and Corinna Gannon (eds.), Opus magnum. Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie (Heidelberg: ART-Books, 2024), pp. 219—233.
Allegorical Iconography of Alchemical Furnaces in 16th and 17th Century Manuscripts, in: Sarah Lang (ed.), Alchemical Laboratories (Graz: University Library Publishing, 2023), pp. 285–295.
Vial Movies – The Driving Forces of Nature and Their Visualization in: Nuncius. Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science 37 (2022), pp. 1-41 (co-authored by Stefan Laube).
Pagan Otherness in the Christian Church Iconography of Ancient Philosophers and Intellectuals in Russia and the Balkans, in: IKON. Journal of Iconographic Studies, volume 15, 2022, pp. 95-100.
Destillation und polare Vereinigung. Zur visuellen Übersetzung alchemischer Praktiken auf Titelbildern und Frontispizen, in: Petra Feuerstein-Herz, Ute Frietsch (hrsg.). Alchemie – Genealogie und Terminologie, Bilder, Techniken und Artefakte (Wolfenbütteler Forschungen 166), Wolfenbüttel: Herzog August Bibliothek, 2021, pp. 191-235 (co-authored by Stefan Laube).
Performative Bildstrategien für Alchemica illustrata // Berit Wagner, ed, Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie um 1600 – Ausstellung in sieben Räumen (2021). Url: https://merian-alchemie.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/ausstellung/ii-alchemische-bildwelten/performative-bildstrategien-fuer-alchemica-illustrata/
Transformation Atalanta fugiens in illuminiertes Buch // Berit Wagner, ed, Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie um 1600 – Ausstellung in sieben Räumen (2021). Url: https://merian-alchemie.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/ausstellung/v-transformation-von-motiven-und-figuren/transformation-atalanta-fugiens-in-illuminiertes-buch/
Alchemy and University – Alchemie und Universität. Conference report // H/Soz/Kult. Url: https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-8648
Sermons, Alchemy, and the Three-Handed Jesus: The Iconography of the Peter and Paul Cathedral Pulpit in the Context of Stephan Yavorsky’s and Theophan Prokopovich’s Preaching, in: Timothy Johnson, Katherine Shelby, John Young (eds), Preaching and New Worlds: Sermons as Mirrors of Realms Near and Far. Routledge Studies in Medieval Religion and Culture, 2018.
Books (for general audience)
Wax Legs and Iron Eyes. Votive Practices from the Middle Ages to the Present Day. Moscow: SLOVO, 2023 (in Russian; co-authored by Mikhail Maizuls, and Dmitry Antonov). On-line excerpt here.
Medieval Magic. Visual history of Witches and Sorcerers. Moscow: AST, 2022 (in Russian; co-authored by Dilshat Kharman). On-line excerpt hereLink opens in a new window.
Iconographical Mayhem. The Unusual in the Orthodox Icon. Moscow: Bombora, 2021 (in Russian). On-line excerpt hereLink opens in a new window.
History of Alchemy. The Journey of the Philosophers' Stone from the Bronze Age to the Atomic One. Moscow: AST, 2020 (in Russian). On-line excerpt hereLink opens in a new window.
‘Suffering in the Middle Ages: Paradoxes of Christian Iconography’. Moscow: AST, 2018 ( in Russian; сo-authored by Mikhail Maizuls and Dilshat Kharman). On-line excerpt hereLink opens in a new window.
Honours and Awards
- 2022 Russian ‘Alexander Belyaev Prize’ for the best non-fictional book of the year
- 2018 Russian ‘Enlightener prize’ for the best non-fictional book in Humanities
Memberships
Member of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA)
Member of the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC)