The Four Witches (Four Naked Women) (1497): Art, History and Details

The Four Witches (Four Naked Women) (1497) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Dating from early in Albrecht Dürer’s career, this engraving cannot be tied to a specific narrative but may allude to the Greek goddess of the underworld, Hecate. Four nude women gather under an orb with a skull at their feet, while a ghoul emerges to their left. Three of the women could represent Hecate, who was often depicted with three faces or bodies; the fourth may be Diana, Hecate’s counterpart on earth. The nudity and allusions to black magic suggest mischief and the realm of witches. Prints offered a new medium for exploring subject matter that was deemed inappropriate in other media, such as painting.

Object facts

• Title: The Four Witches (Four Naked Women)
• Date: 1497
• Creator attribution: Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
• Culture: Germany, late 15th Century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1964.22

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.