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48. Jean-Amable-Amédée Pastelot (ca. 1820-1870) Les Sorcières
Etching, 1863, 245 x 320 mm., Bailly-Herzberg 76. Fine impression on heavy laid paper with large, full margins, and with the blind stamp of Cadart & Luquet. Pastelot did not seem to have any particular sorceresses in mind (such as the three in Macbeth or those in Dido and Aeneas) but his representation includes most of the usual appurtenances: broomsticks, bats, skulls, a snake, a smoking torch and a bevy of beauties. The diabolical has always attracted artists, perhaps because it gives more scope for invention than the heavenly. Pastelot himself was primarily a painter, mostly of decorative works, though he was also involved with a number of the satirical magazines of the time. Almost forgotten today, his primary importance may be as the teacher of the painter Luigi Loir.
Still, the print presents an intriguing image.
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