10 times witches, monsters and ghosts

Veneziano’s etching presents a naked witch with a fantastical retinue. She rides astride a hulking carcass, a motif borrowed from Albrecht Dürer, whose print in turn he borrowed from Mantegna.

With his hair blowing in the breeze, this is a skeleton with swagger. What could have inspired Jan Luyken to make this etching?

This ‘protoshopped’ picture looks fairly innocuous. Nevertheless, it’s not a scene we’d want to pop up in our dreams. As part of the same series, this photographer also made French man at dinner with a head on the table.

This witch is downright demonic, complete with a tail, wings and beard. She even has a flaming candle attached to her broomstick. Cornelis Saftleven is known to have produced several grisly figure studies like this one.

In art, witches seem to be constantly on the go. In the case of this image by Albrecht Dürer – which served as a model for Veneziano’s print – the witch is using a goat and four putti to get around.

In the Rijksmuseum collection you’ll find not only witches, but ghosts as well. This photograph shows a man who has courageously drawn his dagger to fend off a nearly invisible ghost.

At Halloween we spotlight not only ghosts, demons and witches, but also personifications of death. For the person who wore this pendant, it served as a constant reminder of their own mortality.

Appearances can be deceiving. Here, Omori Hikoshichi thinks he’s carrying a beautiful lady, but the reflection cast by the moonlight on the water reveals her true nature: a horrific horned demon. Poor soul…

Ghost stories are ever-popular in Japan. Oiwa is a sad ghost. Her husband falls in love with another woman, and in the ensuing drama Oiwa’s face is disfigured by poison. Her revenge is to commit suicide and haunt him.

In the late nineteenth century, Darwin’s theory of evolution was being hotly debated, inspiring many artworks. Carl Huth shows this human and gorilla as the best of friends, enjoying a pint together. Cheers!