Erika Mikhailova '11
Bosch and Breugel: Bedknobs and Broomsticks: A Study of Witchcraft, Heresy, and Hypocrisy
Up until the 1950’s, the more bizarre work of
sixteenth century Flemish artist Peter Bruegel the Elder
and his stylistic
predecessor
Hieronymus Bosch
were largely regarded
by scholars as droll
flights of fantasy. Erika
has built upon
scholarship that
identifies sociopolitical
criticism and counterculture
religious
overtones within these artists’ work, which opposes the
Spanish rule of the Netherlands and the Inquisition. She
examines the themes of heresy, witchcraft, and hypocrisy
within a selection of Bruegel’s paintings and etching
sketches, linking them to the writings of Dirk Coornhert, a
Spiritualist author who refuted the reality of witchcraft and opposed corporal punishment, and Jan Wier, a
student of Cornelius Agrippa, known as the “father of
psychiatry,” who argued that the symptoms of witchcraft
were psychosomatic and not demonic possessions.
