Witches' Sabbath
This was inspired as much by the silent movie “Witchcraft Through the Ages” as it was by old depictions of witch activity in the Middle Ages, and the witch paintings of Goya that I’d seen in Chicago. In it the witches participate in the ridicule of God and nature. The Devil boils unbaptized babies in a cauldron while one witch kisses the ass of a goat and another pisses on the cross. In the sky other witches fly around. All of these activities were assumed to have occurred at witches sabbaths in the Middle Ages.A friend of mine has subtitled this "Boiling Babies for Flying Potion."
An amusing story: I first showed this painting in Racine, WI, and was a bit hesitant as I felt it ran a good chance of offending some conservative Christian, and I didn’t really want to be in a position where I might be expected to make explanations for it. Sure enough, a rather unhappy looking woman approached me during the show and asked if I was the artist who had painted this thing. Certain that she would be my offended conservative I admitted that I was. She then said “I hope you know that that isn’t really what goes on at our sabbaths.”
I had not offended a Christian, I had offended a witch. I hadn’t anticipated that at all. All the same, witches would like for you to know that this is not really what goes on at their sabbaths.
(Paintings featuring the Devil as a man with a goat skull tied to his head are "Death and the Devil," "Witches' Sabbath," "Temptation of Christ," and "San Simon, with Rey Pascual and Lucifer.")