The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Witch (Night Piece)

The Witch (Night Piece)

1626
(Dutch, 1620–1662)
Netherlands
engraving
Framed: 39.4 x 51.6 cm (15 1/2 x 20 5/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1943.635
Catalogue raisonné: Hollstein XXXIII.53.152
Location: not on view

Description

This nocturnal scene depicts a bare-breasted sorceress concocting her evil brew in the company of bizarre beasts. She stands within a "magic circle" scratched into the ground, the supernaturally consecrated space for witchcraft-a likely inspiration for the circular forms of Rosa's paintings. She overturns a horn into her cauldron engulfed in billowing flames; mixing with the powder are two streams of ash that spew forth from pipes held in the anus of a somersaulting demon at left. The swirling, decorative composition and the variety of grotesque creatures making knowing and silly faces at the viewer add elements of whimsy and farce to the ostensibly serious, occult subject.
  • William Bell Scott
    M. Knoedler & Co.
    William Bell Scott; (M. Knoedler & Co.)
  • The Novel and the Bizarre: Salvator Rosa's Scenes of Witchcraft. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 15-June 14, 2015).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (2/15/2015 - 6/14/2015); "The Novel and the Bizarre: Salvator Rosa's Scenes of Witchcraft"
    Generous Donors: A Tribute to The Print Club of Cleveland. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 2-August 4, 1991).
    Nocturnal Impressions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 20-May 12, 1985).
    Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Graphics. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-August 1, 1982).
    Old Master Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 29, 1966-February 28, 1967).
    Dutch Painting, The Golden Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 27, 1955).
  • {{cite web|title=The Witch (Night Piece)|url=false|author=Jan van de Velde|year=1626|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.635