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The picture shows the alchemist trying to produce the elusive Philosopher's stone, which could turn ordinary metal into gold, but instead, to his amazement, he discovers phosphorus. However, Wright does not picture the alchemist in a 17th-century background, but he romanticises the room by imagining medieval gothic arches and high, pointed windows as if he is in a church. He also gave a very favourable impression of the actual process, which involves the reduction by boiling of urine. A 1730 description of the manufacture of phosphorus described the need for 50 or 60 pails of urine that was both putrid and "bred worms".
Wright also gives religious connotations to the painting. The alchemist kneels in front of a shining vessel, stretching out his hands in a similar gesture to that used by El Greco when painting St Francis receiving the Stigmata or St Jerome in Prayer. Benedict Nicolson compares his posture to that of one of Christ's disciples receiving communion. He believes that the layout of the painting may have been taken from Thomas Wijck's painting (left) of an alchemist, which also contains similar vaulting, a confusion of objects and a similar assistant who is singled out by the light. This painting from the previous century was on display in London during Wright's lifetime. However, it is clear from a sketch by Wright's companion, Peter Perez Burdett, that he had a strong influence on the design. His sketch of 4 February 1771 shows the vaulting and the layout of the painting, with the glass container as its focus. It is Burdett who says where to place the figure in the painting, and Burdett had already referred Wright to Matthew Turner so that Wright might fully understand the underlying science in the painting.
El Greco Benedict Nicolson phosphorus Peter Perez Burdett Matthew Turner left alchemist Philosopher's stone Thomas Wijck