1647
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Scenes of Witchcraft: Night is a 1647 unspecified by Salvator Rosa, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A dark forest at night. Two groups of men stand apart. One group watches a magician raise ghosts from the ground. The other huddles in fear. This painting shows witches and sorcerers as scholars, not hags. The magician looks like Moses—tall, serious, holding a staff. It’s different from the scary witches in other art from this time. If you like this, look up *chiaroscuro*—the way light and shadow make the scene feel alive.
In the pitch black of night, two groups of men are gathered in a forest. To the left, travelers apprehensively pause to watch a magician conjure terrifying apparitions. Since the Middle Ages, necromancy, the act of communing with the dead, was associated with male sorcerers. In Rosa's painting, the wizened necromancer who stands tall and resolute directly below a classical column is reminiscent of Moses, a predecessor to Renaissance depictions of sorcerers. Rosa's learned magicians not only invoke associations with philosophers and intellects, but they would have also referred to the artist…
The artist chose the painting's shape to reference the foundational role of the circle in practicing magic.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Salvator Rosa (1615 – 15 March 1673) is best known today as an Italian Baroque painter, whose romanticised landscapes and history paintings, often set in dark and untamed nature, exerted considerable influence from the 17th century into the early 19th century.
See the richer artist page
