In early modern Europe, life was a precarious affair. Plague, war, and disease were ever-present, and the bewildering fragility of human existence fuelled a deep-seated belief in witchcraft. Witches were thought to consort with the devil and were blamed for all sorts of misfortunes, from withered crops to unexplained deaths. In the third film in History Hit’s partnership with the University of Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates the shifting and often terrifying image of the witch in art in The Ashmolean Up Close: Witches in Picture. Guided by curator An Van Camp, she traces how these figures were depicted in prints and drawings from the 15th to the 17th centuries – a potent reflection of an era gripped by anxiety. The programme reveals a world where superstition, religion, and art collided in a desperate attempt to explain the unexplainable. Sign up to watch From mystery to menace The programme begins with a deep dive into the ambiguous world of 15th-century art. An Van Camp, the museum’s Curator of Northern European Art, shows Suzannah a print by the German master Albrecht Dürer from 1497, now known as ‘The Four Witches’ . While some might interpret it as a scene of temptation or a brothel, a closer look reveals unsettling details – skulls, bones, and bizarre creatures – hinting at something far more sinister. Pondering whether the picture is in part a comment on women’s sexuality, the artwork is a fascinating puzzle, reflecting an age when the line between human vice and dark magic was dangerously blurred. Next, Suzannah examines a more overtly “witchy” drawing: ‘A Witches’ Kitchen’ by Jacques de Gheyn the Younger, a popular artist of the time. This unsettling image, created in the early 1600s, is a stark contrast to Dürer’s work. It depicts a grotesque scene of figures that fit the stereotype of witches, a cauldron, and a disemboweled man, yet it’s also filled with scientific details that echo the era’s emerging study of anatomy. The drawing reveals a world where art, medicine, and the supernatural were intertwined, capturing the widespread fear of witchcraft in an age of accusations and witch trials, as well as religious persecution. ‘A Witches’ Kitchen’ by Jacques de Gheyn the YoungerImage Credit: Ashmolean Museum, Oxford University The witch as a symbol By the 18th century, the witch trials were beginning to fade into history, and a new, more satirical tone began to emerge in art. Suzannah and An study ‘Witches’ Sabbath’ by Claude Gillot. Created more than a century after the Dürer print, this etching is fantastical and almost comical. It depicts a chaotic scene of a witches’ sabbath, but it does so in a way that suggests it’s a social and political critique. The artwork reveals that by this time, the witch had moved from being a terrifying threat to a symbol for artists to satirise their contemporary world. As Suzannah notes, every time we talk about witches in this period, we’re also talking about something else: female sexuality, the study of science, political satire, and religious persecution. The art shows that the witch was a figure onto which people projected their deepest societal anxieties. This is a powerful reminder that these images were not just reflections of people’s fear of magic, but also their unease with changes in society, religion, and politics. The witch bottle The Ashmolean Museum’s collection offers more than just artistic portrayals of witches. Suzannah is given a chance to examine one of the most curious objects in the museum: a witch’s bottle. These stoneware jugs were sealed with a cork and often buried beneath the thresholds or in the walls of houses as a form of protection against harmful magic. Professor Suzannah Lipscomb (left) is shown a witch’s bottle by Ashmolean Museum curator An Van Camp (right).Image Credit: History Hit / Ashmolean Museum Inside the bottles, people would place items believed to repel or absorb the witch’s power, such as sharp iron nails, bent pins, and sometimes even the urine or hair of a person believed to be bewitched. This tangible artefact reveals a world where fears of witchcraft weren’t abstract – they were a constant and terrifying reality that people actively sought to fight against. The Ashmolean’s collection provides a unique and compelling insight into early modern fears. It demonstrates how deeply ideas of witchcraft ran through the daily lives of people, from the highest artist to the most common person seeking to protect their home. Through these enduring objects, we can begin to understand the complex anxieties and beliefs of a culture grappling with the unseen forces of the world. Join Professor Suzannah Lipscomb and An Van Camp as they uncover the hidden fears and fantasies of the early modern world in The Ashmolean Up Close: Witches in Picture. Sign up to watch