It would appear that the the 'Book of Secrets' and the "Book of Life" are recent creations, not the product of 19th Century alchemists. They were made by a Danish artist working in Sweden (Marie Louise Kold) during the past few years. She uses copper and copper alloys with wonderfully coloured surfaces (patinas) that are achieved through the use of chemical cocktails she has perfected over the years (as in the picture below). In as far as she used chemical treatments to achieve her intended aesthetic effects it could be said that she is an alchemist. However, the lifeforms that sprout and weave through her most recent works are purely the product of her imagination and her skill, rather than the result of the life force infusing the metal. What is striking is that even though her mushroom, flowers, seaweed etc. are fundamentally inanimate, they come to life and appear to dance in the light.
So maybe we should be asking, where does art stop and alchemy start?
