Bewitched Groom, ca. 1544
ArtistHans Baldung Grien,
Schwäbisch Gmünd
1484–1545
Strasbourg
Woodcut
Sheet dimensions34,6 × 19,9 cm
Status
not on displayAccessionAcquisition 1928
Inventory numberK 1928-4
Contact
sammlung@kunstpalast.de
About the workThe meaning of this print from the late work of the Renaissance artist Hans Baldung is enigmatic. The horse embodies human desires and urges, the witch a force in league with the devil. But how does the Baldung family coat of arms with the unicorn fit in? Is the lifeless groom to be equated with the artist himself? Or does it allude to a folk tale in which a “robber baron”, disguised as a servant, tries in vain to escape his fate? Each potential answer raises new questions and invites us to reinterrogate the relationship between the motifs.