Albrecht Dürer
Four Naked Women (Four Witches)
1496
Scroll
Albrecht Dürer
Four Naked Women (Four Witches)
1496
Physical Qualities
Engraving, Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 191 x 132 mm. (7 1/2 x 5 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Garrett Collection
Object Number
1946.112.5781
Dürer did not provide clarity on the subject of this image and its title has changed over the centuries. It is unclear whether this presentation of a group of nude women is meant to depict an illicit magical interaction or act as a commentary on female beauty or the concepts of temptation or mortality. Its subsequent reception as a portrayal of witches speaks more to historical (male) reactions to representations of women gathering than as an illustration of witchcraft.
T. Harrison Garrett, Baltimore, purchased 1885 (Lugt supp. 2435b); Duke of Buccleuch (Lugt 402).
Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest
Goddard, Stephen. The World in Miniature: Engravings by the Little German Masters 1500-1550. The University of Kansas Spencer Art Museum, 1988, p. 183.
The Illustrated Bartsch. Ed. Walter L. Strauss. New York, 1978-present. Hind, Arthur M. Albrecht Dürer, his engravings and woodcuts (New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1911). Meder, Joseph. Dürer-Katalog; ein Handbuch über Albrecht Dürers Stiche, Radierungen, Holzschnitte, deren Zustände, Ausgaben und Wasserzeichen (Vienna: Verlag Gilhofer und Ranschburg, 1932). Hollstein, F. W. H., et al. German engravings, etchings and woodcuts ca. 1400-1700 (Amsterdam: Menno Hertzberger, 1954- ongoing 2000): vol. VII, pp. 1-259.
Signed: 1
Inscribed: Recto: in image, lower center, in plate monogram "AD". Verso: lower right in graphite "B75"
Markings: CM: Walter Francis, 5th Duke of Bucceleuch (Lugt 402), Garrett WM: high crown (Meder wm. 20)
