Details

Title

The Witches' Procession (Lo Stregozzo) or The Carcass

Artist/Maker

Marcantonio Raimondi, Italian (ca. 1475/80–before 1534)

Date

ca. 1520

Medium

copper engraving on ivory-colored paper

Dimensions

12 3/8 x 25 11/16 inches

Credit

Purchase with funds from the Estate of Barbara Dunbar Stewart and European Art Acquisition Fund

Accession #

2011.117

On View

Currently not on view

Initially hailed as a masterpiece by Marcantonio Raimondi, this engraving—variously titled The Witches Procession (Lo Stregozzo) or The Carcass—has since been reattributed to his talented assistant Agostino Veneziano, whose work reveals a greater affinity for nocturnal, macabre scenes. This print depicts an array of enigmatic skeletal creatures and demon-like humans processing through a marshy landscape. At the top right a wrinkled, witch-like woman perched on one of the beast’s spines leads the group. Hand outstretched, she claws at the heads of frightened children nearby while her male counterparts wield femur bones to clear the path ahead of them. Despite Veneziano’s use of unconventional iconography, the precise meaning of this engraving remains elusive.