![]() Benjamin West, “Saul and the Witch of Endor” (1777) (image courtesy the Victoria and Albert Museum, London)Īccording to art history, when they’re not busy ruining the lives of their ex-husbands and summoning spirits, witches like to get back to basics: riding backwards on a hell-goat. People are always blaming things on witches, as the Salem Witch Trials famously demonstrate. This is not the fault of the Witch of Endor, but I bet Saul found a way to blame her. CANON SOLUTION MENU EX HOW TOTurning to more Biblical fare, the Old Testament tells of the Witch of Endor, a sort of metaphysical consultant who summoned the spirit of the prophet Samuel at the behest of Saul, who was seeking advice on how to defeat the Philistines. 1500) (image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art) “Fuck around and find out.” I cannot stress this enough: Do not make enemies of witches. It looks like she’s just blown us a kiss. She is depicted living her absolute best life in a painting by Wright Barker, surrounded by lions and foxes that were presumably once her enemies. There’s also Circe, sometimes hailed as “the first witch,” a minor goddess with a major understanding of potions and herbs as well as a magic staff that she used to transform her foes and rivals into animals. In the Greek canon, Medea is not the only famous witch. 1880–1910) (image courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art) José Guadalupe Posada, “A witch carrying a child on her broom” (ca. Posada is known for his iconic social satire renderings of calaveras, or skulls, that have become ubiquitous features of Día de los Muertos (“Day of the Dead”) in Mexico. In a print from a 19th-century etching on zinc by Mexican lithographer José Guadalupe Posada, part of the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a witch on a broom is also portrayed carrying a child away. Germán Hernández Amores, “Medea, con los hijos muertos, huye de Corinto en un carro tirado por dragones” (c. In a painting by the Spanish artist Germán Hernández Amores in Madrid’s Museo del Prado, we find her fleeing on a golden chariot, carrying her dead children. Hades hath no fury like a witch scorned: Medea poisons Creusa and murders the children she produced with Jason. CANON SOLUTION MENU EX FULLWhen she meets Jason during his adventures with the Argonauts, they fall in big love - but when he throws her over to marry King Creon’s daughter, Creusa, Medea goes full witch on the situation. Reaching back into Greek mythology, we have Medea, sorceress and mortal acolyte of the goddess Hecate. With Halloween just weeks away, join us in a spooky survey of fine art witches. The term “witch” is a handy one, historically applied by the patriarchy to justify the punishment of basically any woman who thwarts the dictates of conventional society and gender relations, but has also been characterized in myth and art for centuries. Wright Barker, “Circe” (1889) (image courtesy Bradford Museum and Galleries)Īt the intersection of spooky season and global feminism, we have witches. ![]()
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