From Samhain to Halloween. Five witch sabbaths in art history.

Witchcraft and the sabbath have influenced art throughout the centuries, arousing in humans the classic images of mystery, fear and transgression. Flemish paintings and Renaissance engravings portray witches as characters of folk beliefs, but also as symbols of power, rebellion, and fear of the unknown. But what meaning is really attributed to the Sabbath?

If you think that demonic and orgiastic night dances are, even today, the truth, forget it. The sabbath, a celebration linked to ancestral rites, was originally connected to agricultural practices and the natural cycle of the seasons. The word probably spread to France (in the midst of a trial) around the 14th and 15th centuries and is derived from Latin sabbatum, which in turn goes back to Greek sábbaton, a term used to refer to the Jewish day of rest shabbat, the Sabbath. The term therefore means “to cease” or “to rest.”

The Sabbath of Samhain, for example, was one of eight “Sabbats” of Celtic origin; the eight holidays were in fact pagan celebrations related to the Earth’s movement around the sun. The term is derived from the Gaelic Samhain meaning “end of summer.” The Celts, influenced mainly by the sun, lunar and star cycles, marked through the celestial bodies the passing of the agricultural year, which began precisely with Samhain in November, at the end of the harvests, when the land was prepared for winter. It was celebrated on October 31 and marked the transition to winter and the return of shadow time. How do we know this? The Coligny Calendar, a second-century AD bronze epigraph found in 1897 in Coligny, is the only archaeological source that refers to the numbering of time in the Celtic civilization. Within it in fact the only feast indicated is precisely the Trinuxtion Samoni, or Samonios or precisely Samhain.

Closely related to the Roman celebrations of Lemuria (held on May 9, 11 and 13), during the days of Samhain, the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead thinned. All this favored contact with spirits and allowed for greater interaction with the afterlife, which was reflected in rituals of protection and divination. Witches, deeply connected to the cycles of nature and herbal practices, find a thematic affinity through Joseph Tomanek ’s (Strážnice, 1889 - Berwyn, 1974) painting, Fire Dance, which embodies the spirit of freedom and the primordial connection between man and nature.

With the advent of Christianity, Samhain underwent a transformation, becoming integrated into the celebrations of All Hallows’ Eve ("All Hallows’ Eve"), which took place on the eve of November 1. The fusion of the terms then led to the birth of the word Halloween, a inflection of All Hallows’ Eve. Beginning in the Renaissance, the interpretation of the sabbath underwent a significant change, becoming frequently associated with the figure of the devil and nightly gatherings of witches and demons, where satanic rituals were believed to be celebrated and blasphemous activities were carried out. The witch, an extremely complex figure, was therefore represented as the embodiment of evil, linked to occult rituals and powers capable of subverting moral and religious norms, but also as a symbol of defiance against patriarchal society. Its term derives from the Latin striga, a word that denoted a type of nocturnal bird (the tawny owl), a symbol of the night and often associated with the magical arts. Over time, the word acquired a meaning related to occult practices and magic. Indeed, it denoted female figures believed to possess supernatural abilities and to be able to exert control over the forces of nature. Artists then investigated the theme of witchcraft, using it to reflect the social anxieties and cultural tensions of their time. The earliest depictions of witches actually arose in the medieval age, and among the earliest representations of enchantresses are the figures in Martin Le Franc’s Le Champion des dames. Between the 15th and 16th centuries, German audiences were then captivated by Malleus Maleficarum, The Hammer of Evil Women, published, in Latin, by Friar Heinrich Kramer for the first time in 1487. The purpose of the treatise, or rather, collection of beliefs? To suppress heresy, paganism and witchcraft in Germany. Indeed, the work provided descriptions of the rituals and powers of witches and advocated the need for extermination action against devil-worshipers.

Today, the entertainment industry continues to draw on this universe of witches and devils. In any case, it is crucial to remember that today’s representations have their origins in a more complex tradition dating back to the Age of Enlightenment, characterized by sensual yet disturbing imagery. Born during the revolutions of the late 18th century, the period referred to as Black Romanticism, it is therefore configured as a current in Western art, fueled by the anxieties typical of periods of crisis and drawing answers from the power of the dark imagination. The movement was reworked by a group of Symbolists in the last years of the 19th century and later influenced the Surrealist revolution after World War I. For this reason, we at Finestre Sull’Arte want to celebrate Halloween with five representations of witch sabbaths unrelated to the cult of Samhain. Through the five paintings we trace the artistic evolution of witches to show how each era has dealt with magic, superstition, and female power.

1. Claes Jacobsz van der Heck, Heksensabbat (“The Sabbath of the Witches”)

Claes Jacobsz van der Heck (Alkamaar, 1575 - 1652), a 17th-century Dutch artist, created in 1636 a unique vision of the Sabbath: theHeksensabbat, a painting of great iconographic complexity. Van der Heck draws from the painting of Hieronymus Bosch and Pieter Brueghel the Elder to depict monsters and demons, while the panoramic landscape with classical ruins recalls the work of Flemish artists active in Rome in the early 16th century, such as Paulus Bril and Willem van Nieulandt II. The work is led by a crowned demon in the form of a giant frog sitting on a globe on a pedestal while adoring figures kneel before the pedestal. In the foreground (right), other figures accompanied by cats, a priest, and a sphinx-like creature kneel in worship before candles. A procession of sorcerers, on the other hand, occupies the center of the scene in the foreground, and among them is a woman with flayed arms riding a beast with multiple heads. The figure is reminiscent of the creature on which the harlot of Babylon rides, depicted further in a 19th-century Russian depiction and in a 16th-century wooden engraving. The analogy with the woman was probably intentional for Van der Heck; the Harlot of Babylon was in fact used to represent false religion and thus false idols related to witchcraft. On the ruin to the left, a witch washes the back of a naked woman and another stirs a cauldron. Other witches are shown flying through the sky around the obelisk, on whose pedestal a demonic creature uncovers her buttocks, another blows a horn, and a third urinates into the open mouth of a creature lying under the obelisk. Van der Heck was fascinated by the themes of the witches’ sabbath and the Temptation of St. Anthony throughout his career.

2. Claude Gillot, Les S abbats (“The Sabbaths”).

Claude Gillot (Langres, 1673 - Paris, 1722), French engraver and painter, approached the world of sabbats and witchcraft with Les Sabbats, a series of engravings begun in 1698 and finished in 1722. The setting of one episode of Les Sabbats is a wild forest inhabited by demonic creatures. Gillot’s Witches’ Sabbath features a horned male figure controlling the torture of two men tied to a spinning wheel while on the left two women are on broomsticks. One figure is riding a quadruped skeleton and a man with deer antlers rides a lion-snouted horse. Gillot depicts the sabbath as a parody of religious rituals in which witches, often described as grotesque and deformed figures, gather in frenzied dancing. The figures appear contorted within a chaos organized by Gillot himself. The sabbath in this case is not pure evil. It appears, rather, as a dark feast, a ritual, a window to a different reality. A door to the supernatural. A different engraving in the Les Sabbat series, however, depicts a barely different scenario. The gathering of witches is led by a necromancer seated on a stone, with a book on his lap; above him flies an owl while to the right, on the other hand, some figures dance in a circle.

3. Francisco Goya, El aquelarre - (“The Great Goat”).

El aquelarre by Francisco Goya (Fuendetodos, 1746 - Bordeaux, 1828), made in 1798, represents one of the best-known works related to the theme of sabbaths and witchcraft. The canvas was requested by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna to adorn their country residence and later entered the collection of the Duke of Tovar, who purchased it after 1928 from José Lázaro Galdiano.

In the center of the scene, the Sabbath takes place: the devil, depicted as a goat adorned with vine leaves harking back to the iconography of Bacchus, leads a circle of witches. In front of him, a woman hands him an infant, while an old woman holds a skeletal child in her arms. Another female figure, with her back to the goat, carries a staff from which hang human fetuses. In the lightly lit background, however, appears a group of female figures in white robes, with bats flying above their heads. The narrative describes two women who poisoned their children to obey the demon’s orders. Moreover, the painting reflects the popular imagery of the time, which saw witches as figures accused of sucking the blood of children, causing them extreme and irreparable debilitation. Through his style, Goya accentuates shadows and distorted lines, giving the scene a dark and intense energy. The work thus becomes one of the greatest examples of Black Romanticism, where the universe of witches takes on a psychological and disturbing character. With El aquelarre, Goya expresses a subtle social critique directed toward superstitions and fears of the supernatural. With an Enlightenment approach, the artist denounces the ignorance and fanaticism prevalent in Spanish society, and the figure of the witch, whose face and irrational gaze become a warning against obscurantism. El aquelarre is part of the series Asuntos de brujas para la Alameda de Osuna, Affairs of Witches for the Alameda de Osuna, produced since 1797. Also part of the entire sequence are the paintings Vuelo de brujas (Flight of Witches) from 1797, El conjuro (The Spell) from 1797-1798, La cocina de las brujas (The Witches’ Kitchen) from 1797-1798, El hechizado (The Bewitched) from 1798, and Don Juan y el Comendador (Don Juan and the Commander) from 1797-1798.

4. Émile-Antoine Bayard, La danse du S abbat (“The Dance of the Sabbath”)

Émile-Antoine Bayard ( La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, 1837 - Cairo, 1891), a French painter of the late 19th century, produced in 1870 one of the most incisive examples of his artistic career, La danse du Sabbat. The work depicts a sabbat inspired by popular tradition and literature of the time, in which witches are portrayed in a macabre dance. The figures, arranged in a circle, are wrapped in dark clothing and the atmosphere is visibly tense. The scene takes place under a night sky, illuminated by a ghostly light that accentuates the dark atmosphere. Bayard’s painting is set in a historical and cultural context in which fear of witches and occult powers were present in French society. The depiction of rituals related to magic was in fact a rather popular theme among artists. In this case, Bayard, known for his interest in the occult and popular legends, exploits for La danse du Sabbat the iconographic tradition of the sabbath in order to express and recreate the disturbing and chaotic energy of nocturnal dances. The dance, a symbol of union and liberation, is thus transformed into an act of debauchery: the perversion of rituals is represented in this aspect. The engraving first appeared in a volume by French literary scholar Paul Christian entitled Histoire de la Magie, Du Monde Surnaturel Et de la Fatalité à Travers Les Temps first published in 1870, with full-page illustrations by Bayard. To date, the work is attributed to Gustave Doré (Strasbourg, 1832 - Paris, 1883), a credible assumption because of the engraving style. Nevertheless, this is only a partial truth: Bayard, a contemporary of Doré, made the drawings for Paul Christian’s volume, while engraver François Pannemaker, known for his collaboration in numerous works by Doré and on Jules Verne’s Hertzel editions, transferred them to print.

5. Luis Ricardo Falero, Brujas yendo al Sabbath (“Witches at the Sabbath”)

Brujas yendo al Sabbath by Luis Ricardo Falero (Granada, 1851-London, 1896), painted in 1878, depicts a scene in which the seduction of witches is combined with the sensuality and eroticism that characterized the works of the 19th century. In addition to the figures, several creatures related to witchcraft appear in the painting, including a black cat, a bat, and a goat. A group of figures stands out in the foreground, with two witches in the center: one rides the goat, while an elderly witch clinging to one of her horns leans on a red-haired youth. In contrast, three more macabre figures appear on the right side of the work: the skeleton of a pelican, a human skeleton, and a salamander, considered a fire spirit by alchemists.

Falero’s nudes give a completely different perspective than the depictions of previous centuries. The artist, known for his interest in the female body, the supernatural and the occult, depicts a night scene where witches, with youthful and attractive features, gather under a starry sky, intent on an orgiastic yet mystical ritual. The female figures appear illuminated by a cold light that gives the scene an almost otherworldly dimension. Here then, Falero’s witches are not frightening creatures. They appear as seductive figures, in harmony with their nocturnal surroundings. The depiction of beautiful and young enchantresses therefore reflects a change in perception in 19th-century society, in which the concept of witchcraft began to be linked to a more eroticized and ambiguous image, closer to the decadent symbolism of the time than to medieval fear. There are several sketches and actual works that Falero created around the world of the witch and the sabbath: in 1878 he painted the incomplete draft Estudio de una bruja, while the work painted on a tambourine entitled La brujas is from 1882.

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