Artsy ran an interesting piece about the history of the depiction of witches in art and some discussion of the motivations for such depictions. There’s a lot of interesting material though the article meanders from art about witches to art made by women with mystical backgrounds and so on. An excerpt states:
“’Some of the most powerful images of the diabolical nature of witchcraft produced in the fifteenth century depicted witches as part of a group, and were shaped by contemporary notions of heresy and apostasy,’ wrote Charles Zika in The Appearance of Witchcraft (2007). Heretics, of course, were more frightening in large numbers, as they created a more significant threat to the status quo. If one witch was scary, a flying coven was downright terrifying.”
Read the entire piece:
https://www.artsy.net/article/alina-cohen-artists-enchanted-witchcraft-centuries.
