Early Modern Witches

A response to the Consider This Activity
created by Rebecca MacAlpine (@rebecca.macalpine)

Number of views: 147

License – Creative Commons Attribution

Location: Wiki Commons

Author: Wellcome Library, London

This image demonstrates the way in which early moderns conceptualized the witch. It shows a woman who is older (which is reflective of her covered and tied back hair), and the connection that was consistently drawn between nature and witches. The other aspect I appreciated about this image is that it is a woodcut, which were designed for significantly wider circulation than other mediums of art. It also works in contrast to some of the very terrifying interpretations of witches that we would have seen in earlier centuries.

To find this image, I went to the creative commons search and preformed a search for early modern AND witch*

In terms of diversity, this image highlights that there were many ways that witches could be represented in the early modern period. While this is not the predominant imagery, it begins to show students that while there are some consistencies amongst depictions of early modern witches, they were not universally terrifying. It also speaks to the alleviation of anxiety in Europe after the core hunting period of the sixteenth century.