The History of Witchcraft and Demonology

This illustration is a detailed line drawing. It reproduces the famous 1613 engraving by Jan Ziarnko that depicts a Witches’ Sabbat. The scene is complex and crowded. In the center, a large figure with a goat's head represents the Devil. He sits among heavy clouds of smoke coming from a large cauldron on the right. Many witches fly through the air on broomsticks and goats. In the upper left background, three figures sit on high, ornate thrones. The foreground and middle ground are filled with various groups. A large circle of people dances back-to-back. Musicians play a violin and a pipe. Others sit at a long banquet table. The figures include both naked individuals and those dressed in seventeenth-century clothing. Various demonic imps, monstrous hybrid creatures, and animals are spread throughout the festive but macabre gathering.

THE SABBAT. Ziarnko