1363 – Witch picture

Physical description:

Reproduction of engraving of 4 naked witches, a baby and a cat. Full of bizarre details - one witch is holding up a dish containing a skull and bones, another what looks like a necklace of dice and bells, etc. Hans Baldung Grien's 'Witches', 1514.

Museum classification:

Images of Witchcraft

Size:

375 x 270

Information:

The original is in the Musee du Louvre, Cabinet des dessins. Hans Baldung Grien (or Grun) (1484-1545) was a German artist and a student of Durer. He produced a series of monochrome pictures of witches (in black and white or red and white), shortly after moving to Strasbourg in 1509, when he was in his mid-twenties. There was apparently considerable interest in witchcraft in Strasbourg (then part of Germany) at the time, and it was also a period when a large number of books were being printed. The first book printed about witchcraft, 'Formicarius Fidei' by Alphonsus de Spina, had been published in Strasbourg in 1467. This was also the time that 'Malleus Maleficarum' was at the height of its popularity. Hans Baldung Grien came from quite an academic family, and it is reasonable to assume that he would have read widely. His witch pictures are an unappealing mixture of the grotesque and the erotic, and clearly hostile to witches, but they are atmospheric and innovative, and often contain many unusual details. In spite of the interest in witchcraft in the early 16th century, there were few trials for witchcraft in Germany at this time. The terrible German witch persecutions did not begin until after the start of the Counter-Reformation around 70 years later, and in Strasbourg the height of the persecutions was between 1615 and 1635, when 5000 people were burned in 20 years. This suggests that while writers and artists ' and in particular the development of printing ' played an important part in stimulating interest in witchcraft, religious turmoil was a more significant factor in triggering persecution.

Resource:

Picture

Materials:

Paper

The original is in the Musee du Louvre, Cabinet des dessins. Hans Baldung Grien (or Grun) (1484-1545) was a German artist and a student of Durer. He produced a series of monochrome pictures of witches (in black and white or red and white), shortly after moving to Strasbourg in 1509, when he was in his mid-twenties. There was apparently considerable interest in witchcraft in Strasbourg (then part of Germany) at the time, and it was also a period when a large number of books were being printed. The first book printed about witchcraft, 'Formicarius Fidei' by Alphonsus de Spina, had been published in Strasbourg in 1467. This was also the time that 'Malleus Maleficarum' was at the height of its popularity. Hans Baldung Grien came from quite an academic family, and it is reasonable to assume that he would have read widely. His witch pictures are an unappealing mixture of the grotesque and the erotic, and clearly hostile to witches, but they are atmospheric and innovative, and often contain many unusual details. In spite of the interest in witchcraft in the early 16th century, there were few trials for witchcraft in Germany at this time. The terrible German witch persecutions did not begin until after the start of the Counter-Reformation around 70 years later, and in Strasbourg the height of the persecutions was between 1615 and 1635, when 5000 people were burned in 20 years. This suggests that while writers and artists ' and in particular the development of printing ' played an important part in stimulating interest in witchcraft, religious turmoil was a more significant factor in triggering persecution.