Anna Bean

May 16th, 2014

The Nude in Art: ARTHS3350-001-Professor Yael Even

The Nudity of the Witches of Hans Baldung Grien

Whether or not a culture believes nature is fundamentally benign depends heavily, as is

made clear by what can be taken from the art involving witches, animals, and wilderness during

the Northern Renaissance, especially the 16th century. Individuals can attribute power to these

forces, but it is seen as at odds with the developed world of manhood and reason, which is the

draw of the conflict of their creation and viewing. On the other hand, various aspects complicate

this reading of Hans Baldung Grien’s work on witches in particular. How much one actually

literally believes in the subject matter, whether as a creator or a viewer, can also complicate the

reading of the art. But one consistent theme is the concept of a certain coded holy masculine

dominion over women and nature as an ideal, and the horror that is imagined to ensue when this

is not achieved.

In the late Middle Ages, witchcraft had many different forms and presentations, and there

was commonly a great deal of response from Catholic Church authorities on how to deal with

heresy under its authority. An encyclopedia of witchcraft titled Malleus Malificarum or Hammer

of the Witches was deemed authentic by a papal bull, and major presses in the Rhineland

between 1486 and 1520 with at least 14 editions known. Albrecht von Bayern the bishop of

Strasbourg was appointed by the pope to supervise its enforcement. Hans Baldung Grien

became a citizen of Strasbourg in 1508, and arts about witches were becoming public. 1

On the other hand, there was little witch-hunt activity within Baldung’s lifetime, with

elements he used borrowed from literature and folk-beliefs of the period. Baldung’s use of a

‘Sabbath’ as a setting and his use of chiaroscuro woodcut as a medium were innovative. There

is also an interpretation that how he uses witches was intended to come off as humorous, which

reflects the attitudes of humanists at Strasburg at the time, and there was indeed a male

audience.2

How Baldung presents his nude witches could be an allusion to Eve in the garden of Eden

with the demonic serpent, preoccupied with the notion of the female nude both as victim and as a

temptress. This applied to all of his works, but especially to his productions about witches.

There was popular notion that it was the excitement Eve intentionally provoked in Adam that

truly caused original sin and the fall and not the desire of knowledge, espoused by leading

authority on witchcraft and magic Cornelius Agrippa. 3

The Witch’s Sabbath (fig.1) is a first obvious example of this subject matter by Hans

Baldung Grien. This is a 1510 chiaroscuro woodcut depicting naked witches with cauldrons

holding their Sabbath in the woods accompanied by animals such as goats, cats, and amphibians.

There are even what appear to be a horse and human skull on the ground to the left. One witch is

riding on a flying goat. This is a primal Eden of the temperate climate is at odds with the

civilized world, and the black mass and the alchemy and magic is meant to be an inversion of a

Christian mass as dictated by the Catholic Church. These witches supposedly made potions, and

could turn into cats. These are lewd, disheveled witches, fitting the types of women they are

supposed to be. This triangular composition for the witches is designed to give this painting a

sense of instability and movement. 4

Another example is The Bewitched Groom (fig. 2), a woodcut from 1544 that portrays a

scene of a man lying on his back in an interior, accompanied by a horse and a bare-breasted,

torch-bearing witch in the corner that draws attention to her place in this chaotic composition full

of varying objects and elements. It is possible the groom is simply unconscious. (There is an

all-too real possibility that Baldung did not really believe in magic or witches.) 5

The Bewitched Groom is a mysterious work where the intended reading or narrative

interpretation is not entirely clear. It is possible it is about the general idea of someone being

bewitched, or it is even an allegory for lust, which would explain the dreamlike quality of the

woodcut. This work would also reflect the social climate of the time and place having a

fascination with the dark underbelly of the classical world, as common knowledge of Baldung’s

viewers. The witches he creates period are likely intended to be sensual, sexy, and amusing, and

maybe minimally threatening except as something that could cause a loss of self-control,

possibly the truth meaning of the work. 6

The bare breasted woman could also be a reference to procuresses. Prostitutes and

procuresses were historically commonly accused of witchcraft. But around Baldung’s lifetime,

there was a historical shift where the specific targets of accusations changed. In the earlier

Middle Ages, witches could be male or female, even of high noble class, yet over time, lower-

class women were increasingly the main targets. Another important point was there was a

common belief that witches could turn themselves into horses. 7

There are all sorts of terse, ambiguous interpretations to The Bewitched Groom, where

multiple meanings have been attributed to it, along with the various ways witches were

interpreted at the time. Other aspects that lend to the interpretation was that woodcuts were the

medium for popular culture for the time, and the use and application of demons and horses

would have been economic choices was subject matters. Contemporary writings indicated that

witches were thought of as female because of ideas of uncontrollable lust of the female

persuasion.

The witch-hunting manual Malleus Malificarum outright states that all witchcraft comes

from carnal lust which would have been all-too commonly associated with females. On the other

hand, the belief that witches would or could fly to their Sabbaths was held in doubt by many of

Baldung’s contemporaries. The sensations of flight could be attributed to drugs, and the

possibility of this is shown in Baldung’s work by the transfixed look on the witch women’s

faces. Baldung also had other works in the past that used horses as symbols of lust and sexual

frustration as well.

Indeed, the true theme of The Bewitched Groom may be found in the idea that the groom

had failed to control the horse, while the witch’s blazing torch is an allusion to enflamed lust.

The dropped item is actually a currycomb, with a possible pun about the groom’s lack of self-

control because ‘to curry’ means to dominate with beatings or ill-use. The groom is not literally

dead or unconscious, there is indication from the positioning of the witch and horse suggests

more mental domination where fantasy endangers the mind. The loss of reason is a loss of self

control, and this is the antithesis of the nudity and the wilderness that the witches possess.

Nudity is the partner of fantasies and dreams, and generally altered states pertaining to unreason.

The imagination is held in skepticism, and the sensual fantasy that is the providence of wild

beasts that this belief system must be curried or tamed. 8

Both woodcuts have a sense of movement to them, like constant currents seen in nature,

like the circle of life. This makes the sense of power these witches and animals are supposed to

possess seem more credible, where even the skeleton of the image that is the composition

supports this. It comes off as exciting, yet unstable, which suits the likely possible intentions for

these works.

Here, the power of the Catholic Church, of folk stories, and the beliefs of the humanists

of the 16th century contribute to why reading Baldung’s works on witches can be a complex

matter. Even whether or not the witches in particular were meant to be funny or frightening is up

to contention. However, even things that are funny or buffoonish can take on a grotesque

character which can have a wrenching affect on some gut-level. Regardless of current activity

when it comes to superstitious beliefs, what the images and plots symbolize can still mean a

great deal on a thematic level on a societal scale. What was valued in these circles at least was

not just being male, but also have what was seen as a masculine capacity for reason and to resist

loss of self control at the hands of what they thought of as primeval forces threatening their

senses of self.

There is no doubt, these are works that likely have strong undercurrents of misogyny,

whether fearful or amused. On the other hand, this is executed in such a way that the subjects

are still in works that are layered, and there is a sense of applicability for other themes that could

be relevant as well. Even if the witches are supposed to be evil, there is a sense of perverse joy

and fascination with them. Just the presence of nude witches, and their parallelism with Eve and

the fall of human nature, almost seem like this is about the anxiety of being a grown man in this

society, where it is common and natural to be drawn to women, yet retain a sense of power and

independence.

Endnotes

1. J.Snyder, Northern Renaissance art: painting, sculpture, the graphic arts from 1350 to 1570

(New York: Abrams, 1985), p.368.

2. M.A Sullivan, “The Witches of Dürer and Hans Baldung Grien,” Renaissance Quarterly Vol.

53, No. 2, (2000), pp. 333-401.

3. J.Snyder, Northern Renaissance art: painting, sculpture, the graphic arts from 1350 to 1570

(New York: Abrams, 1985), pp366-367).

4. J.Snyder, Northern Renaissance art: painting, sculpture, the graphic arts from 1350 to 1570

(New York: Abrams, 1985), pp367-368).

5. J.Snyder, Northern Renaissance art: painting, sculpture, the graphic arts from 1350 to 1570

(New York: Abrams, 1985), p368-369).

6. M.A Sullivan, “The Witches of Dürer and Hans Baldung Grien”, Renaissance Quarterly Vol.

53, No. 2, (2000), pp. 333-401.

7. Dale Hoak, “Art, Culture, and Mentality in Renaissance Society: The Meaning of Hans

Baldung Grien's Bewitched Groom,” Renaissance Quarterly Vol. 38, No. 3 (1985), pp. 488-510.

8.L.C Hults, “Baldung's Bewitched Groom Revisited: Artistic Temperament, Fantasy and the

"Dream of Reason” The Sixteenth Century Journal Vol. 15, No. 3 (1984), pp. 259-279.

Figure 1. Hans Baldung Grien. The Witch’s Sabbath. 1510. Chiaroscuro Woodcut, 14 7/8 X 10 1/4 “

Figure 2. Hans Baldung Grien. The Bewitched Groom. 1544. Woodcut, 13 1/2 X 7 7/8 “.National Gallery of Art, Washington