The Witches

Art Historical Context

Hans Baldung Grien, brilliant German artist and protégé of Albrecht Dürer created *The Witches* in 1510 as a striking woodcut print—the first of two states, meaning this retains its original, unaltered lines before later revisions. Measuring about 14½ by 10¼ inches, this Northern Renaissance masterpiece captures the era's fascination with the supernatural through bold black-and-white contrasts typical of woodcuts, a medium Baldung mastered for its dramatic expressiveness and wide dissemination. The scene teems with eerie energy: nude female figures, likely witches in ritual, cavort with fantastical animals such as goats or dragons—symbols of demonic familiars in early 16th-century folklore. Amid rising fears of witchcraft in Europe, just before widespread witch hunts, Baldung's work reflects cultural anxieties and Renaissance curiosity about the occult, blending sensual nudity with macabre themes that set him apart from his mentor's more restrained style. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (acquired via the Joseph Pulitzer Bequest in 1917), this print showcases Baldung's innovative technique: intricate cross-hatching for texture and shadow, evoking movement and menace. It's a window into how art both mirrored and amplified society's darkest imaginings, inviting us to ponder the thin line between myth and morality.

About the Artist

Hans Baldung (called Hans Baldung Grien) · 1484–1545

Hans Baldung Grien (1484/85–1545), born in Schwäbisch Gmünd into an erudite family of jurists and physicians, forsook academia to pursue art. His early training around 1500 took place in the Upper Rhineland, likely Strasbourg, before he apprenticed under Albrecht Dürer in Nuremberg from 1503 to 1507. There, the young artist honed his skills in painting, printmaking, and stained glass, even managin...