![]() ![]() OnMilwaukee: What does it mean to be a witch? I first sat down with Luna 12 years ago to ask her the following questions, and recently posed them to her again. Luna is still practicing and the coven has dozens of initiated members and friends who stop in from time to time when they feel the desire for spiritual connection. I am no longer a member of the coven, but I have carried with me some beautiful practices from that time in my life, such as the only "rule" of Wicca which I strive for every day: "Harm none, do what you will." Personally, I was in a coven for 10 years, one I started with Luna, a now 50-year-old Milwaukee woman. So much so that being a witch has become more mainstream, and in some circles, fashionable. In recent years, more and more people have understood the difference between the wicked witch of the west and a man or woman who identifies as a witch. More then one million Americans identify as Pagans or Wiccans, two often-misunderstood religions whose practitioners often identify as "witches." Both are nature-based, peaceful, spiritual practices that have nothing to do with Satanism. But she is not the witch we are talking about here. She is everywhere in October: on television and decorations, in advertisements, on that hand towel you got from the Dollar Store. Tis the season of the green-faced, wart-sprouting, cauldron-stirring witch. However, the central female figure is now replaced by various androgynous figures and at least one (fallen) angel.Hold My Broom is an OnMilwaukee exclusive series exploring the magickal, mystical and cackle-worthy. The carcass, with its devilish horned head, seems to be an amalgamation of various creatures in the Veneziano/Raimondi print, and the prominent headless buttocks is clearly a direct derivative. While more chaotic in composition, all the pivotal elements of La Carcasse appear. The drawing is loosely titled A Witches Sabbath and shows definite similarities to La Carcasse. While trying to make sense of this art historical mystery I came across a wonderful drawing by an unknown Italian artist commonly called the Master of the Victoria and Albert Museum Diableries from about the same period as the print in question. Most commonly it is ascribed to Agostino Veniziano Musi or Marcantonio Raimondi after a work by Raphael. Scholars are also not quite sure of the identities of the artist and printmaker for this print. It has been named La Carcasse ("The Carcass") or Ill Stregozzo ("The Witches' Procession"), both titles emphasizing different parts of the composition. The history of the Smith print is far from straightforward. Virgil Solis. German, 1514–1562. Saturn, n.d. from Illustrated Bartsch. However, it conjures up images of Nordic sagas of the “Wild Horde” or possibly harkens back to portrayals of the cannibalistic Roman god Saturn as in the one by Virgil Solis seen below: The subject of the work is quite mysterious. You can almost feel and hear the impact of this unholy procession. The witch in question is squeezing the life out of little children while strapping young attendants noisily lead the way through a marsh like environment, disturbing the geese or ducks out of their nesting ground. The print reveals an impossible parade of grotesque figures, with an old woman at the center with open mouth and wild flowing hair seated on a skeletal creature. This large print treats a highly unusual subject for Italian art, one you would normally find in the work of German or Dutch Renaissance artists like Baldung Grien or Hieronymus Bosch in darker and colder Northern European regions. ![]() With the approach of Halloween, and the days getting shorter and darker, I got inspired to investigate the story behind one of the more grotesque and interesting Italian prints in our collection. New hatch'd to the woeful time: the obscure birdĬlamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth Lamentings heard i' the air strange screams of death, Our chimneys were blown down and, as they say, ![]()
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