Engraving with mezzotint: The Laboratory, by JG Murray after W Hunt, published by T McLean March 1 1842. Depicting a chemist/apothecary and his apprentice in the back room to their shop (viewed beyond) with gas lighting, chemical apparatus, furnace, pestles etc. Sheet size to 55x70cm, platemark 52x66.5cm.

The print shows the back room of an apothecary or pharmacist’s shop where all the treatments and preparations are made. A number of pestles and mortars are on the floor and on top of tables along with mixing bowls and jars of ingredients. The owner of the shop is the man sitting on an old barrel, while his son or apprentice cleans up the back room.

The scene is very different from the clean, tidy and clinical pharmacies that are seen in England today and is a fairly accurate representation of an apothecary of the time. The print was taken from a painting by W Hunt (active before 1842) and engraved by J G Murray.