Witches' Sabbath (Blok-Bergs Verrichtung).

Woodcut, 17,5 x 13 cm, laid paper (sm. repairs).

Very good impression and well-preserved copy.

Wonderfully detailed woodcut illustrating the German fascination for Walpurgis Night (30 April - 1 May). It was believed to be the night of the witches' meeting on the Brocken, the highest peak in the Harz Mountains, a range of wooded hills in central Germany. This was made famous by a scene in Goethe's Faust. The present woodcut was also used as a frontispiece for a treatise by Johannes Praetorius (1630-1680), "Blockes-Berges Verrichtung [...]", Leipzig 1668.
Ref. VD17 3:015601X.