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On behalf of the Director of the Netherlands Interuniversity Institute for Art History (NIKI), Michael W. Kwakkelstein, we have the pleasure to invite you on November 15 at 6pm to the hybrid lecture entitled “Into the Magic: Witch Trials and Sorcery Scenes in Early Modern Europe” by Tania De Nile, Adjunct Professor at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.

In Dutch 17th-century sources, unreal and illusory declinations of the demonic, i.e., witchcraft scenes, hells, and temptations of St. Anthony were called spoockerijen and constituted a specific genre in the art market of the Golden Age. Surprising in their variety and nuances, these hundreds of visionary works, make up the colourful mosaic of the volume Fantasmagorie. Streghe, demoni e tentazioni nell’arte fiamminga e olandese del Seicento (Officina Libraria, 2023).

Starting from some of the themes addressed in this book, the lecture will investigate the various ways in which artists have tackled the theme of witchcraft, specifically witch hunts, depending on the different political and religious contexts in which they have operated: Northern Netherlands, Flanders, and Italy.

Moreover, it will shed light on the strategies used by artists to adapt this Nordic genre to the Italian market, by introducing scenes of sorcey and enchantments drawn from mythology and literature.

Tania De Nile teaches Dutch and Flemish Art History at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, and she works in the Capitoline Superintendency. Previously, she was Adjunct Professor at Roma Tre University and the University of Calabria, where she was a postdoctoral researcher with two projects on Nordic paintings in Southern Italy and on Beauties portraits of the late baroque courts.

In 2013 she defended in the University of Leiden her PhD thesis, which focused on spoockerijen in the 17th century. Her research has been supported by grants from the NIKI, the GWO, the Konosuke Matsushita Memorial Foundation, and the Phoebus Foundation.

She is the author of many essays and articles focusing on the relationship between Italy and The Netherlands, and in particular on the theme of hells and witchcraft, on the group of the Bentvueghels in Rome, and Nordic artists in South Italy. She co-edited (with Giovanna Capitelli and Arnold Witte) the volume Fiamminghi al Sud. Oltre Napoli (Quasar, 2023) published in the series of the “Papers of the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome”.

The conference is open to the public free of charge. Pre-registration is required to guarantee seating.

Please click here to register for online attendance via Teams.

To register for in-person attendance at the NIKI in Viale Evangelista Torricelli 5 in Florence, please click here.

The NIKI is located in Florence, Viale Evangelista Torricelli 5.