The Sorceress

The Latin text underneath this very imaginative and amusing, though ostensibly moralising image reads in English: 'How many evils desire leads to, when checked by no limit; and how, with its sweet song, it leads even the purest minds of mortals into every fury. But how quickly we are deceived. Death takes over the brief pleasure of a brief life, and the small moment of laughter gives way to an eternity of grief' (see Griffiths, p. 79). There appears to be a certain disconnect between the life of pleasure the text is condemning and the depiction of witchcraft, yet upon closer observation, the monsters summoned by the voluptuous Sorceress's magic indulge in various addictions, including gambling, drinking and smoking.
This is a delightful print, both for its depiction of nocturnal light effects and for the little party of fantastical creatures van de Velde has conjured up here.