A Witches' Sabbath
c. 1650
Medium
Oil on panel
Dimensions
54.3 × 78.2 cm (21 3/8 × 30 3/4 in.)
Classification
oil on panel
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
53495
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
A witch riding a goat and brandishing a broomstick charges out from the left edge of this scene to chase away dozens of devils. Such ghoulish subjects had long been appreciated in Northern Europe for the way they combined a sense of wild, supernatural threat with scientific observation of the natural world—seen here in the detailed moth wings of the howling figure on the right and the deft rendering of the frog’s splayed body. Cornelis Saftleven responded to Dutch buyers’ evolving taste by treat...
About the Artist
Cornelis Saftleven · 1607–1681
Cornelis Saftleven (c. 1607–1681) was born in Gorinchem into a family of artists, with his father Herman Saftleven and brothers Abraham and Herman Saftleven the Younger also painters. He likely learned his craft from his father in Rotterdam, where the family was active, and later collaborated closely with his brother Herman in Utrecht around 1634, developing innovative stable interiors as a new mo...