THE FOUR WITCHES

This engraving by Albrecht Durer, the new object of my affection, is curious and troubling to me. This one was not at the Blanton show that I attended last Saturday, but I found myself dwelling on it over the past few days. You see, I have studied The Three Graces, a frescoe that resides in Naples, and that was originally an adornment for a wealthy Roman patrician in Pompeii some 2000 years prior. I have even painted my own version of it, so I have pondered its particulars on many occasions. With o`erwhelming curiosity, I sought answers to this image riddle in the writings of Erwin Panofsky, the utmost authority on this great artist; it seems as if Durer was blending the old Roman frescoe motifs with some of the prevalent thinking of Northern Europe, invested with blacker overtures. The subtle rendering of the devil on the left, as well as the skull and bones on the floor give this a more malevalent timbre, and something of the occult may be going down in this buoyant frame. This is not Ira Levin`s Rosemary`s Baby or anything, but maybe three of the girls are performing some kind of hocus-pocus on the girl with the garland, who has her back to the viewer. O. G. H. is on that little orb-disco-ball above the ritual practicing ladies, and looms large in limerick. This is a warning "O Gott hute" (May God forbid). Panofsky talks about the popularity of a volume published in 1487 Malleus Maleficarum, a handbook for witch-hunting, which recalls a tale of a midwife who coupled with witches to cast a spell on the baby in the lady. This would fit with Durer`s iconography of this engraving from 1497, where some suspicious going-ons are suggested by the gesticulations and glances of the maidens. The nudity is an influence from Italy, but it is displayed with this superstitious Northern story of witchcraft, where women are devotees of Lucifer. Odd indeed! Durer was just covering his bets against witch persecutors of the day; "see I`m on the side of the good guys", he was trying to say through his work! Yet there is an erotic allure to this coven that Albrecht cloaks in a very clever fashion. Okay, this is essentually "Rosemary`s Baby" Part I-do you see it?