Witchcraft: a man consults a book of spells, women perform various rites. Oil painting after F. Francken.

Centre, a man sits at the right side of a table, with a big book open in front of him; also on the table, a skull, two candles etc. He looks towards the left, where a woman uses a pole to stir the contents of a cauldron. Far left and far right, naked human beings seen from behind; right, an old woman lays her hands on the back of one of them. Right, two ladies in fine dress, one standing, the other seated, both apparently undressing. Top right, a shelf on which are a candle, the skeleton of a hand, a bat etc. Above left, view through an opening to a dead tree and a church. Bottom, reptiles; left of them, a woman bending down to tend the fire heating the cauldron. Many of the details are indistinct

The seated woman in the foreground also appears in reverse in an engraving published by Jaspar Isac (d. 1654), with lettering headed "Abomination des sorciers": she may be derived from a painting by Francken. Impressions of the Isac engraving are in the Ashmolean Museum and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Estampes et photographie

[between 1800 and 1899?]

1 painting : oil on canvas ; canvas 101.2 x 127.2 cm

Wellcome Collection 46010i

After: a smaller painting by F. Francken in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (Inv. no. 1074, on wood 51.8 x 66 cm.)