Analyzing Hans Badung Grien's 'Witches' Sabbath
History of Art II
Witches’ Sabbath
Witches were stereotypically women, common belief was that these women would make a diabolical pact with evil demons or satin himself. They would reject Jesus, the holy sacraments, and take part in "the Witch 's Sabbath". At this time, women were sexually insatiable and that Satan seduced them to his cause. Witches were feared and sought after because they had the ability to take away the strength of young men and sometimes went on to kill them. They could also fly at night, communicate with Satan, make men impotent, and hence they struck at the ability of humans to reproduce. Personally I thought Hans Baldung Grien’s, Witches’ Sabbath, was the best suited art work for one of the many 16th century superstitions of women and witchcraft. …show more content…
This superstition/belief of witchcraft excited Baldung, and took great inspiration from it. Witches’ Sabbath is a Choaroscuro woodcut made in 1510, depicting three naked women gathering around a cauldron in the dark gloomy woods of Europe.
These women are illustrated as demon looking but still have a human physic, with pitchforks and brooms scattered all through the print. The jar, with some type of hebrew descriptions (as stated in class) is on the side of the jar that the three naked witches are huddling around that is letting some type vaporous fume into the air that could be an offering to the devil. There is a fourth witch, seated backwards and riding a flying goat, with a smile, sailing above her fellow witches heads. The fourth with riding the goat in reverse is Baldung’s way of telling us witchcraft is the “inversion” of
Witches’ Sabbath
Witches were stereotypically women, common belief was that these women would make a diabolical pact with evil demons or satin himself. They would reject Jesus, the holy sacraments, and take part in "the Witch 's Sabbath". At this time, women were sexually insatiable and that Satan seduced them to his cause. Witches were feared and sought after because they had the ability to take away the strength of young men and sometimes went on to kill them. They could also fly at night, communicate with Satan, make men impotent, and hence they struck at the ability of humans to reproduce. Personally I thought Hans Baldung Grien’s, Witches’ Sabbath, was the best suited art work for one of the many 16th century superstitions of women and witchcraft. …show more content…
This superstition/belief of witchcraft excited Baldung, and took great inspiration from it. Witches’ Sabbath is a Choaroscuro woodcut made in 1510, depicting three naked women gathering around a cauldron in the dark gloomy woods of Europe.
These women are illustrated as demon looking but still have a human physic, with pitchforks and brooms scattered all through the print. The jar, with some type of hebrew descriptions (as stated in class) is on the side of the jar that the three naked witches are huddling around that is letting some type vaporous fume into the air that could be an offering to the devil. There is a fourth witch, seated backwards and riding a flying goat, with a smile, sailing above her fellow witches heads. The fourth with riding the goat in reverse is Baldung’s way of telling us witchcraft is the “inversion” of