King James I of England on his deathbed, attended by courtiers trying to poison him. Etching by or after W. Hollar, ca. 1672.

Selected images from this work

Each figure has a speech banner emerging from his mouth, bearing one sentence. 'Sumus fumus': we are smoke, expressing human ephemerality

[London?]

1 print : etching

I'll warrant you. Thanks to the chymist. Sumus fumus. Not by art but chymicallie

Alastair Bellany and Thomas Cogswell, The murder of King James I, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015

Wellcome Collection 36283i

Location	Status	Access
Closed stores

Page URL