Semester:
Offered:
Felipe Pereda, Joseph Koerner
Witchcraft as a magical practice is documented across many cultures since ancient times, while the “witch” of popular imaginings is a more recent local phenomenon. Young or old, alluring or monstrous—but usually female—the image of the witch developed in the West at the start of the early modern era, mobilizing the fantasies of major artists from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and beyond. This course explores the witch from three entangled perspectives: that of painters fascinated with nefarious illusions, that of witch-hunters and their largely fictive accusations, and that of modern historians seeking to make sense of this difficult material. Artists studied include Albrecht Dürer, Salvatore Rosa, José de Ribera, Henry Fuseli and Francisco de Goya. The course consists of lectures, debate seminars, and studio classes on the printing techniques (etching and acquatint) used by artists discussed.