id:			149104
accession number:	1977.37
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.37
updated:		2019-11-18 11:30:32.273000

Scenes of Witchcraft, c. 1645-1649. Salvator Rosa (Italian, 1615-1673). Oil on canvas; framed: 76.2 x 9.6 cm (30 x 3 3/4 in.); unframed: 54.5 cm (21 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1977.37

title:				Scenes of Witchcraft
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1645-1649
creation date earliest:		1640
creation date latest:		1654
current location:		217 Italian Baroque
creditline:			Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Italy, 17th century
technique:	oil on canvas
department:	European Painting and Sculpture
collection:	P - Italian 16th & 17th Century
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Salvator Rosa (Italian, 1615-1673)  - artist

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measurements: Framed: 76.2 x 9.6 cm (30 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 54.5 cm (21 7/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	Signed: "SR [monogram]"
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Year in Review: 1977
	opening date:   1977-12-28T05:00:00
	<i>Year in Review: 1977</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).

	title:		Baroque Imagery
	opening date:   1984-11-06T05:00:00
	<i>Baroque Imagery</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 1984-January 6, 1985).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Niccolini Family (Florence, Italy) by 1657
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Private collection (Florence, Italy)
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	Heim Gallery (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977.
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fun fact: 


digital description: 


wall description: 
A huge upturn in interest in witchcraft emerged during the 1500s in Europe, but by the middle of the next century—at least among the cultured elite of Florence—a backlash arose against the many accusations of sorcery. Artists and writers explored the topic more out of curiosity and amusement, chief among them the poet, painter, and satirist Salvator Rosa, who examined witchcraft with gusto in numerous poems and works of art, including these four paintings. They show a range witch types, from the beautiful enchantress to the old crone to the male sorcerer, and represent activities commonly associated with black magic: levitation, love potions, devil worship, the invocation of demons, and transformation. A common subject in Italian art of the 1600s, transformation was usually seen in interpretations of myths based on Ovid's ancient Latin text, the <em>Metamophoses</em>. Rosa found a novel way to exploit this idea, drawing attention to his own ability to transform paint and canvas into a disturbing, nightmarish world.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 138
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n158

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p. 398-403; Reproduced: p. 399-402
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.37/1977.37_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.37/1977.37_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1977.37/1977.37_full.tif