| Witch Hill (The Salem Martyr) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Thomas Satterwhite Noble |
| Year | 1869 (1869) |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 185.4 cm × 124.5 cm (73.0 in × 49.0 in) |
| Location | New-York Historical Society |
Witch Hill (The Salem Martyr) is an American painting of a young woman soon to be hanged for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials. The 1869 painting by Thomas Satterwhite Noble is held in the collection of the New-York Historical Society.
Description and history
The painting depicts a young woman, her hands bound, walking on open ground, with four grim-looking Puritan men at her heels, escorting her to the gallows. Known for his sensational paintings on anti-slavery subjects, Noble depicted the Salem witch trials as unjust persecution, with the maiden's beauty and "saintly-looking expression" presenting her as a martyr in the Christian tradition of hagiography. This romanticized portrayal notwithstanding, most Salem witch trial victims were older women. First exhibited at the 1869 Cincinnati Industrial Exposition, Noble's painting won a silver medal.
For his model for the condemned witch, Noble posed a young woman who worked as a librarian in the Cincinnati public library. Family tradition maintains that she was a lineal descendant of a woman who was hanged as a witch in 17th-century Salem.
Noble painted the work using oil on canvas. The painting's heavy walnut frame was made for the canvas by English-American woodcarver William H. Fry.
Gifted to the New-York Historical Society by Noble's children in 1939, the painting was featured in a 2022 exhibition on witchcraft at the New York Historical.
See also
References
- Ray, Benjamin (2003). "Salem Witch Trials". OAH Magazine of History. 17 (4): 32–36. ISSN 0882-228X.
- Williams, Peter W. (1997). Houses of God: Region, Religion, and Architecture in the United States. University of Illinois Press. p. 2. doi:10.5406/jj.13609908.4. ISBN 978-0-252-01906-7.
- Birchfield, James D. (1988). Thomas Satterwhite Noble, 1835-1907. Lexington: University of Kentucky Art Museum. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-929007-00-7.
- ^ "Witch Hill (The Salem Martyr)". New York Historical. Archived from the original on 2024-12-24. Retrieved 2024-12-24.
- Graeber, Laurel (October 21, 2022). "Are the Salem Witch Trials Part of Women's History?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2024-12-24.