Dr 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. and Dr Irina Protopopova. From 2017 to 2021, I worked at the Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenb眉ttel on an early modern alchemical images led by Dr Stefan Laube, as well as on a medieval book history 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鈥檚 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, 91福利, and a Frances A. Yates Long-Term Fellow at the Warburg Institute, University of London.
Articles & Book Chapters
Islamic Evangelists and Christian Acrobats: Reinterpretations of Religious Otherness in Arabic and European Alchemical Illumination, in Philip Forness and Stanislau Palau (eds.), Interreligious Appropriations (T眉bingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2025) (in print).
, The British Journal for the History of Science Themes 2025, pp. 1鈥�19.
, in Stefan Laube (ed.), Material, Visual, and Practical Dimensions of Early Modern How-to Books (Leiden: Brill, 2024), pp. 237鈥�268.
, in Michelle Waldisp眉hl and Be谩ta Megyesi (eds.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Historical Cryptology HistoCrypt 2024 (Tartu: D-Space, 2024), pp. 161鈥�173 (co-authored by Sarah Lang and Megan Piorko).
, in Berit Wagner and Corinna Gannon (eds.), Opus magnum. Matth盲us Merian d.脛. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie (Heidelberg: ART-Books, 2024), pp. 219鈥�233.
, in: Sarah Lang (ed.), Alchemical Laboratories (Graz: University Library Publishing, 2023), pp. 285鈥�295.
in: Nuncius. Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science 37 (2022), pp. 1-41 (co-authored by Stefan Laube).
, in: IKON. Journal of Iconographic Studies, volume 15, 2022, pp. 95-100.
Destillation und polare Vereinigung. Zur visuellen 脺bersetzung alchemischer Praktiken auf Titelbildern und Frontispizen, in: Petra Feuerstein-Herz, Ute Frietsch (hrsg.). Alchemie 鈥� Genealogie und Terminologie, Bilder, Techniken und Artefakte (Wolfenb眉tteler Forschungen 166), Wolfenb眉ttel: Herzog August Bibliothek, 2021, pp. 191-235 (co-authored by Stefan Laube).
Performative Bildstrategien f眉r Alchemica illustrata // Berit Wagner, ed, Matth盲us Merian d.脛. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie um 1600 鈥� Ausstellung in sieben R盲umen (2021). Url:
Transformation Atalanta fugiens in illuminiertes Buch // Berit Wagner, ed, Matth盲us Merian d.脛. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie um 1600 鈥� Ausstellung in sieben R盲umen (2021). Url:
Alchemy and University 鈥� Alchemie und Universit盲t. Conference report // H/Soz/Kult. Url:
Sermons, Alchemy, and the Three-Handed Jesus: The Iconography of the Peter and Paul Cathedral Pulpit in the Context of Stephan Yavorsky鈥檚 and Theophan Prokopovich鈥檚 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 .
Medieval Magic. Visual history of Witches and Sorcerers. Moscow: AST, 2022 (in Russian; co-authored by Dilshat Kharman). On-line excerpt .
Iconographical Mayhem. The Unusual in the Orthodox Icon. Moscow: Bombora, 2021 (in Russian). On-line excerpt .
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 .
鈥楽uffering in the Middle Ages: Paradoxes of Christian Iconography鈥�. Moscow: AST, 2018 ( in Russian; 褋o-authored by Mikhail Maizuls and Dilshat Kharman). On-line excerpt .
Honours and Awards
- 2022 Russian 鈥楢lexander Belyaev Prize鈥� for the best non-fictional book of the year
- 2018 Russian 鈥樷�� 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)