Sabbat Scene

Claes Jacobsz van der Heck was principally known as a landscape painter and was one of the founders of the Alkmaar painters' guild in 1631.

This painting fits in the typology of disturbing explorations of the demonic world of scenes of witchery. The rich and complex iconography uses the traditional vocabulary of the theme of the fight of Good versus Evil. All the figures of Hell are present in this Sabbat scene: hybrid figures, fantastical and diabolic creatures, witches and black cats all mix in the ruins of some Roman buildings, symbolizing the destruction of Christianity. The vocabulary also borrows from the complex world of alchemy through metaphor.

This painting is from the Collection of the Prince of Condé. It is one of the few examples of this artist's work in France.

From the texts of Sandrine Le Bideau in the catalog Flemish and Dutch paintings–Collection of the Châteauroux museums (Peintures flamande et hollandaise–Collection des musées de Châteauroux) Somogy-Editions d'Art.