Saturday Oct 30, 2021

Episode 4 - Crazy for Witches HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

It is the season of the WITCH, baby!!! This time we have a Halloween special for you. From Lilith the OG, via Circe, Hekate and Europe’s early modern Witch Craze, we are giving you a whistle-stop tour of all things witchy and woo woo. Along the way we discuss crow armies, personal taxidermists, and whether Albrecht Dürer was a fan of the Curly Girl Method.

The list of artworks we discuss in order are:

The Burney Relief, Old Babylonian 19th-18thC BC: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_2003-0718-1

Story of Circe on an Ancient Greek pot, c. 440 BC: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/253627

John Collier, Lilith, 1889: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/lilith-65854

Albrecht Dürer

The Witch, c. 1500: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/391139

Four Witches, 1497: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_E-2-119

Self Portrait, 1500: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Portrait_(D%C3%BCrer,_Munich)

Hans Baldung Grien

The Witches, 1510: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/416796

Bewitched Groom, 1544/45: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/bewitched-groom

Woodcuts

A Rehearsall both Straung and True, of Hainous and Horrible Actes Committed by Elizabeth Stile,1579: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/witchcraft-pamphlet-a-rehearsal-both-strange-and-true-1579

Title page of Matthew Hopkins’ “A Discovery of Witches”, 1647: http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/large107868.html

The History of Witches and Wizards in England, 1720: https://wellcomecollection.org/images?query=abkab8tq

Daniel Gardner, The Three Witches from Macbeth, 1775: https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw144816/The-Three-Witches-from-Macbeth-Elizabeth-Lamb-Viscountess-Melbourne-Georgiana-Duchess-of-Devonshire-Anne-Seymour-Damer

Henry Fuseli

Macbeth, Banquo and the Witches, 1793-4: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/macbeth-banquo-and-the-witches-219771

The Weird Sisters, c. 1783: https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/macbeth-act-i-scene-3-the-weird-sisters-54899

Francisco Goya

Witches’ Flight, c. 1798: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/witches-flight/5e44d19d-7cda-472b-b6d8-8868c599d252

Witches’ Sabbath, 1797-8: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/el-aquelarre/kAFyfuppyHHyBw?hl=en-GB

Truth, Time and History, 1812: https://fundaciongoyaenaragon.es/eng/obra/la-verdad-el-tiempo-y-la-historia/165

Witches’ Sabbath, or The Great He-Goat, 1820-3: https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/witches-sabbath-or-the-great-he-goat/09559184-cfeb-48fe-8acc-89b070b64d92

JW Waterhouse, The Magic Circle, 1886: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/waterhouse-the-magic-circle-n01572

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lady Lilith, 1866-8: https://emuseum.delart.org/objects/6457/lady-lilith?ctx=7daa5724c2dab253a5696066e15664624303a27d&idx=5

You can follow us on Instagram (@isit_arttho), Facebook (@isitarttho) or Twitter (@isitarttho1) to see the artworks we discuss.

We also did a lot of research for this episode which we weren’t able to fit in, so if you want to get your witch on, check out these articles and other podcast episodes below:

Lilith

https://www.learnreligions.com/legend-of-lilith-origins-2076660

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/people-in-the-bible/lilith/

Medieval witches

https://theconversation.com/the-evolution-of-the-medieval-witch-and-why-shes-usually-a-woman-104861

Gone Medieval, Royal Witches: https://podfollow.com/gone-medieval/episode/bacf891c71399cabaaec98a5a4f0552e7a85aef9/view

https://www.grunge.com/417990/royalty-who-dabbled-in-witchcraft/

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/women-making-beer

The Witch Craze

You’re Dead To Me (BBC), The Witch Craze: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p07nx05j

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/woodcuts-and-witches#1-1

https://historycollection.com/12-shocking-beliefs-from-the-malleus-maleficarum-the-witchfinders-guidebook/12/