Artist: Henry Alexander (1860–1894)
Year: ca. 1885–87
Medium: Oil on canvas
This is one of several interior scenes in which Alexander showed people at work, surrounded by their equipment. The portrait d’apparat—an image in which a figure appears along with objects associated with his or her daily life—reflects Alexander’s training in the Munich academy of fine arts and showcases his skills both as a portraitist and as a still-life painter. His subject here is the chemist and assayer Thomas Price (1837–1912), and the setting is Price’s San Francisco laboratory. A consultant to international mining companies, Price was noted for his practical and theoretical knowledge of metals and mines.
you can tell this was a chemist in the 1880s because of the lack of safety and PPE.
back when scientists were men! (/s)