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Add on to "Hans Baldung" Wikipedia page, specifically will be inserted in the "Witchcraft and religious imagery" section:

Hans Baldung Grien's work depicting witches was produced in the first half of the 16th century, before witch hunting became a widespread cultural phenomenon in Europe. Thus Baldung's work did not represent cultural beliefs at the time of creation but largely individual choices. . Furthermore, Baldung never worked directly with any Reformation leaders to spread religious ideals through his artwork, although living in religiously fervent Strassburg, , although he was a supporter of the movement, working on the high altar in the city of Münster, Germany .

Baldung was the first artist to heavily incorporate witches and witchcraft into his artwork (his mentor Albrecht Dürer had sporadically included them but not as prominently as Baldung would). During his lifetime there were minimal witch trials, as well as a lack of witch manuals or witchhunts, therefore, some believe Baldung's depictions of witchcraft to be based on folklore rather than the cultural beliefs of his time. By contrast, throughout the early sixteenth century, humanism became very popular, and within this movement, Latin literature was valorized, particularly poetry and satire. Baldung partook in this culture, producing not only many works depicting Strassburg humanists and scenes from ancient art and literature, but what some have described as his satirical take on his depiction of witches. Gert von der Osten comments on this aspect of "Baldung [treating] his witches humorously, an attitude that reflects the dominant viewpoint of the humanists in Strasbourg at this time who viewed witchcraft as 'lustig,' a matter that was more amusing than serious" . Furthermore, his artwork simultaneously represents ideals presented in ancient Greek and Roman poetry, such as the pre-16th century notion that witches could control the weather, which Baldung is believed to have alluded to in his 1523 oil painting "Weather Witches", which showcases two attractive and naked witches in front of a stormy sky .

Baldung also regularly incorporated scenes of witches flying into his artwork, a characteristic that had been contested centuries before his artwork came into being. Flying was inherently attributed to witches by those who believed in the myth of the Sabbath (without their ability to fly, the myth fragmented), such as Baldung, which he depicted in works like "Witches Preparing for the Sabbath Flight" (1514) .

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Add on to "Witches" wikipedia page, which currently has no 'witches in art' section but I will try and create one:

Witches have a long history of being depicted in art, although most of their earliest artistic depictions seem to originate in Early Modern Europe, particularly the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Many scholars attribute their manifestation in art as inspired by texts such as Canon Episcopi, a demonology-centered work of literature, and Malleus Maleficarum, a "witch-craze" manual published in 1487, by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger .

Canon Episcopi, a ninth century text that explored the subject of demonology, initially introduced concepts that would continuously be associated with witches, such as their ability to fly or their believed fornication and sexual relations with the devil. The text refers to two women, Diana the Huntress and Herodias, who both express the duality of female sorcerers. Diana was described as having a heavenly body and as the "protectress of childbirth and fertility" while Herodias symbolized "unbridled sensuality". They thus represent the mental powers and cunning sexuality that witches used as weapons to trick men into performing sinful acts which would result in their eternal punishment. These characteristics were distinguished as Medusa-like or Lamia-like traits when seen in any artwork (Medusa's mental trickery was associated with Diana the Huntress's psychic powers and Lamia was a rumored female figure in the Medieval ages sometimes used in place of Herodias) .

One of the first individuals to regularly depict witches after the witch-craze of the medieval period was Albrecht Dürer, a German Renaissance artist. His famous 1497 engraving "The Four Witches", portrays four physically attractive and seductive nude witches. Their supernatural identities are emphasized by the skulls and bones lying at their feet as well as the devil discreetly peering at them from their left. The women's sensuous presentation speaks to the overtly sexual nature they were attached to in early modern Europe. Moreover, this attractiveness was perceived as a danger to ordinary men who they could seduce and tempt into their sinful world . Some scholars interpret this piece as utilizing the logic of the Canon Episcopi, in which women used their mental powers and bodily seduction to enslave and lead men onto a path of eternal damnation, differing from the unattractive depiction of witches that would follow in later Renaissance years .

Dürer also employed other ideas from the Middle Ages that were commonly associate with witches. Specifically, his art often referred to former 12th to 13th century Medieval iconography addressing the nature of female sorcerers. In the Medieval period, there was a widespread fear of witches, accordingly producing an association of dark, intimidating characteristics with witches, such as cannibalism (witches described as "[sucking] the blood of newborn infants") or described as having the ability to fly, usually on the back of black goats. As the Renaissance period began, these concepts of witchcraft were suppressed, leading to a drastic change in the sorceress' appearances, from sexually explicit beings to the 'ordinary' typical housewives of this time period. This depiction, known as the 'Waldensian' witch became a cultural phenomenon of early Renaissance art. The term originates from the 12th-century monk Peter Waldo, who established his own religious sect which explicitly opposed the luxury and commodity-influenced lifestyle of the Christian church clergy, and whose sect was excommunicated before being persecuted as "practitioners of witchcraft and magic".

Subsequent artwork exhibiting witches tended to consistently rely on cultural stereotypes about these women. These stereotypes were usually rooted in early Renaissance religious discourse, specifically the Christian belief that an "earthly alliance" had taken place between Satan's female minions who "conspired to destroy Christendom" .

Another significant artist whose art consistently depicted witches was Dürer's apprentice, Hans Baldung Grien, a 15th-century German artist. His chiaroscuro woodcut, Witches, created in 1510, visually encompassed all the characteristics that were regularly assigned to witches during the Renaissance. Social beliefs labeled witches as supernatural beings capable of doing great harm, possessing the ability to fly, and as cannibalistic . The urn in Witches seems to contain pieces of the human body, which the witches are seen consuming as a source of energy. Meanwhile, their nudity while feasting is recognized as an allusion to their sexual appetite, and some scholars read the witch riding on the back of a goat-demon as representative of their "flight-inducing [powers]". This connection between women's sexual nature and sins was thematic in the pieces of many Renaissance artists, especially Christian artists, due to cultural beliefs which characterized women as overtly sexual beings who were less capable (in comparison to men) of resisting sinful temptation .