The Witch (Night Piece)

1626

Jan van de Velde II

(Dutch, c. 1593–1641)

Culture

Netherlands

Medium

engraving

Measurements

Platemark: 21.6 x 29 cm (8 1/2 x 11 7/16 in.); Sheet: 24 x 31.5 cm (9 7/16 x 12 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1943.635

Catalogue raisonné

Hollstein XXXIII.53.152

You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

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 Salvator 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.