LUNETTES

SCIENCE ALLEGORY

There are seven carved lunettes, four of which are in the larger of the two open spaces dedicated to the pharmacy’s customers, while three are in the pharmacist’s work space behind the counter and under the dividing arch. The first two lunettes (to the right and left of the entrance) contain symbolic representations of Pharmacy, Natural Science and Medicine, both depicting sinuous female figures immersed in vegetation and representing knowledge. The first has a caduceus staff and cup entwined by snakes, while the second contains a medallion portraying the legendary founder of medical science, Hippocrates and the books “Corpus Hippocraticum”.

Without any doubt, the second pair of lunettes are the most original depictions. On the right, the lunette is an iconographic representation of the discovery of the x-ray by the German scientist Röntgen in 1895. The symbolic scenery of engraved female figures and lively putti is completed by realistic reproductions of technical instruments (like the cathode ray equipment) and by the reconstruction of the first x-ray performed by Röntgen on his wife’s hand.
The second lunette, on the left, celebrates the discovery of electricity including Volta’s battery, electric cables, cathode ray tubes, lightening and Franklin’s lightening rod.
The lunettes behind the counter have as a common theme the chemistry laboratory and the equipment used in Europe’s laboratories. Lively children have fun playing with alembics, kettles, thermometers, microscopes… and last but not least the ever present tribute to Galileo, a putto studying the night sky with a telescope.

ALLEGORY OF THE MEDICAL SCIENCE

THE DISCOVERY OF ELECTRICITY

CHEMICAL LAB