id: 149104 accession number: 1977.37 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1977.37 updated: 2020-11-04 21:18:29.569000 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: --- 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: --- CREATORS * Salvator Rosa (Italian, 1615-1673) - artist --- 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: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Year in Review: 1977 opening date: 1977-12-28T05:00:00 Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978). title: Baroque Imagery opening date: 1984-11-06T05:00:00 Baroque Imagery. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 6, 1984-January 6, 1985). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Niccolini Family (Florence, Italy) by 1657 date: footnotes: citations: Private collection (Florence, Italy) date: footnotes: citations: Heim Gallery (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1977. date: footnotes: citations: --- 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 Metamophoses. 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. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. 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. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. page number: Mentioned: p. 398-403; Reproduced: p. 399-402 url: Hofstadter, Dan. "Big Baby" Art & Antiques. February 2011, Vol. 34 Issue 2, pp. 64-73. page number: p. 73 url: --- 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