3-016-112 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A scene of witchcraft. Plate 4 from: Scherzi di Fantasia (Sktches of Fantasy), 1743-50. The aged, central bearded figure, almost certainly a magician from his appearance, is pointing out to two much younger men (apprentices?) a decapitated head of a luckless sacrificial or condemned figure that is about to burn on a pyre. A crowd of onlookers are in the background. Two evil creatures flank the group, an owl to the left of the group, and a monstrously fat cat on a tomb-like structure.