Male Artists Thought the Witch Trials Were a Lot Sexier Than They Really Were
It wasn’t bodice-ripping and lightning bolts — at all
So, let’s say you’re a witch — or more accurately — that you’ve been accused of being one.
Maybe you’re a bit different, or make your living as a healer, or aren’t as woven into the social fabric as other people. Then someone’s cow dies, or you cross the wrong person, or you’re female, although some men were accused too. And someone points a finger.
Witch mania swept Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries — an article in History.com said that between 1500 and 1660, more than 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe.
But in the New World, the fervor to find and execute witches grew in the late 1600s in the wake of wars with the French and British and a smallpox epidemic. The most famous of these, of course, was the Salem witch trials of 1692.
Years later people remained fascinated by this piece of history and (mostly male) artists were tasked or inspired to interpret it. One of these was Maine-born Joseph Baker whose portrait of Abraham Lincoln cemented his reputation. Aside from the image above which was the first in a series of lithographs, here’s what…
