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The Witchs Frolic by Alfred Bestall
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The Witchs Frolic by Alfred Bestall
The witchs frolic, taking place on Hallowe en, the date when Saman, Lord of Death, called together the spirits of all the wicked dead who in the last twelve months had been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. Witches were always initiated by others and Bestalls fanciful picture suggests the novitiate of a young malefica. Date: 1936
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Media ID 23086850
© Estate of Alfred Bestall/ILN/Mary Evans Picture Library
Bestall Broomsticks Creepy Dead Fantasy Halloween Imagination Initiation Nightmare Nightmares Sep18 Spirits Wicked Witch Witches
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The Witch's Frolic," a captivating and fanciful illustration by Alfred Bestall, brings to life the enchanting and eerie world of witches on Halloween night. In this magical scene, a young witch-to-be is initiated into the mystical world of the supernatural, under the watchful eye of Saman, the Lord of Death. The illustration, created in 1936, depicts a group of witches in various stages of flight, soaring above the moonlit landscape on their broomsticks. The witches, their faces contorted into expressions of delight and concentration, are surrounded by a swirling mass of spirits, the wicked dead who have been condemned to inhabit the bodies of animals. At the center of the image, the young novitiate, her face filled with a mixture of fear and excitement, clings to the back of a cat, her broomstick held firmly in her hands. The cat, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly light, seems to relish its role as her mount. The scene is filled with the stuff of nightmares and fantasies, the creepy and the imaginative. The night sky is alive with the flickering light of jack-o-lanterns, and the trees are adorned with gourds and other autumnal offerings. The overall effect is one of a world turned upside down, where the wicked reign supreme and the boundaries between the living and the dead are blurred. Bestall's use of color and detail brings this magical world to life, transporting us to a place of enchantment and wonder. The Witch's Frolic is a reminder that even on the darkest of nights, there is magic to be found, if we only dare to look.
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