Falero's The Departure of the Witches

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Today's art history appreciation moment: The Departure of the Witches, 1878, by Luis Ricardo Falero.

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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Brainspore

Damnation never looked so good.
Anonymous

You can judge the period of the painting by the “model” of female beauty.

So nice to look old-fashioned: these women are the exact opposite of the Playboy model. They have big hips (good for reproduction) and small tits.

And I did enjoy the “old witches” with their tired old dugs hanging out.

Sorry ladies, we all reach that stage eventually!
Anonymous

That looks like an air traffic controller’s worst nightmare.
Anonymous

Unfortunately, this may land boingboing.net on my company’s list of blocked sites again : (
Gloria

:D
gravytop

BOING BOING indeed. I’ll take the Bernadette Peters model at the bottom of the picture, even if that ass-grabby hag tags along.
an0nymous

Hey the boss just called me to come in to the office.
I bet it’s a promotion!
Xeni Jardin

Suggested listening (NSFW): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT-JiKB9ctA&feature=related
redteam

Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I’ve been trying to find the name of this artist for a long time!!!!
Felton

This makes a pretty good soundtrack as well:

Debussy’s String Quartet in Gm, 2nd Mvmt
redteam

Now – does anyone know who painted these lovely ladies?
http://tumblr.breadteam.com/post/175048308/anyone-know-who-painted-this
- Anonymous
  
  Same guy! http://sexywitch.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/fausts-vision-1880/
- nanner
  
  i don’t know but there is something very wrong with the middle one’s lady parts
  - Anonymous
    
    Is it really wise to announce to a public forum that you’ve never seen a naked woman?
    - nanner
      
      ack – i wasn’t talking about the OP’s image lol it was in reference to THIS ”
      redteam â€¢ #8 â€¢ 11:51 AM Wednesday, Aug 4, 2010 â€¢ Reply
      
      Now – does anyone know who painted these lovely ladies?
      http://tumblr.breadteam.com/post/175048308/anyone-know-who-painted-this ”
      - theLadyfingers
        
        I can’t say for sure, but it looks like it might be the work of Norman Lindsay.
Chupacabara

The witch that is queefing on the guys shoulder really offends me.

BAN QUEEFING!
Anonymous

Here’s hoping the daily art appreciation actually starts happening…daily.
Boba Fett Diop

How come I never get invited to these parties?
Thad E Ginataom

Today’s art history appreciation moment: Nice tits!

Unicorn chasers? Porn chasers of course! All this stuff was just an excuse to look at tits.

Not, of course, that I have anything against tits!

Actually (and just to show that I am an educated human being, not just a fan of tits) this reminds me of my favourite book: The Master And Margarita
IamInnocent

Don’t go!
Rider

Makes me want to watch HÃ¤xan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft_Through_the_Ages
alllie

So witches don’t get cellulite? Or stretch marks? No wonder they take up with the devil.
- Brainspore
  
  Everybody knows that the Devil gets all the hottest ladies. (Not to mention the best music).
Orchestra Spy

sexy time.
franko

how come there are never any sexy warlocks?? : (
- Anonymous
  
  Brian Hays?
- Felton
  
  how come there are never any sexy warlocks?? : (
  
  What about Julian Sands?
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    The Weasley twins!
    - Felton
      
      Yep! Especially Fred. I mean George.
sludig

Why did we let them go? We are not smart.
Mitch

Oh, those witches like their shortbread and cookies!
echolocate chocolate

POSH PORN
Art

This was painted by hand.
You know….paint… brushes…vision…genius.

Is no one impressed?
(Everyone would be drooling and applauding if it was a ‘shopped image)
- Rich Keller
  
  I’m impressed.
jfrancis

Nice. I’ve never even heard of this before.
dhalgren

Thank You! This is freaking awesome. I dig the witch riding the goat! That’s hot.
- dragonfrog
  
  I like that she’s riding sidesaddle – anything else would be unlady-like
Thad E Ginataom

Yes, I am very, very impressed that it was painted by hand. The human body, horses, and getting boat to look the right shape are among the great challenges to artists, which is why life painting is a vital part of the artist’s training.

However, in terms of selling paintings and making a living, it’s still about …tits.

Maybe its a shame that first, print, and then the internet, made porn without brushwork available to all? On the other hand, at least it lacks the hypocrisy of “this is art, not porn”.
Anonymous

Mmm…. That broomstick sure looks hard, pressed against her supple flesh. She’s got a tight grip on it. A little rough-play. Looks like she’s working it with her toes. Yeah baby, do it with your toes.
jfrancis

Actually the anatomy is beautifully observed. And the light even suggests to me the early-ish 20th century pinup illustration of people like Gil Elvgren
toothandclaw

Well, I’ve got my back piece picked out. Off to the tattoo shop! :)
- Brainspore
  
  I’d be hesitant to put something that sexy on my back just in case I ever end up in prison.
Anonymous

I would like to formally request more of these instead of or in addition to unicorn chasers. Nice.
Palefire

So, which Harry Potter book is this from? Harry Potter and the Drunken Orgy?
Antinous / Moderator

Endora needs to pull up her caftan.
Rich Keller

It’s as if Goya had been reinterpreted by way of Bougereau. It also reminds me a little bit of the illustrations Dore had done for the Divine Comedy, not the anatomy so much as the dizzying composition.
- jfrancis
  
  “It’s as if Goya had been reinterpreted by way of Bouguereau.”
  
  That’s a perfect description.
  - princeminski
    
    Ditto
EscapingTheTrunk

Judging by the bat’s silhouette against the moon, does anybody else think Commissioner Gordon is just a little bit disappointed when he turns on the signal and a dude in a cape shows up?
Baron Karza

Soundtrack: “Goliath and the Vampires” by Monster Magnet. Put that on and stare at the painting a while! I DARE you.
- Michaelchr
  
  Wouldn’t “19 Witches” be a more appropriate Monster Magnet song in this case?
  - Baron Karza
    
    Actually 19 Witches did pop into my head first, but it’s much too poppy and upbeat. Goliath and the Vampires is a much moodier, more ominous song. Maybe a couple of the ladies in the picture are vampires too?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDSCWewE26s
Anonymous

the witch is a metaphor for old age, from which all these beautiful voluptuous young woman are trying to escape.
Anonymous

…
:: word that describes this feeling ::
Thank You!!!
Anonymous

au natural supernatural. Perhaps I’m just off kilter, but I find that classical depictions of women to be very beautiful rather than gratuitously sexual.

Not entirely fitting to the mood, but

The Cult – The Witch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnyxEz4l70Q
el_oyente

That would make the most kick-ass album cover ever.
Anonymous

Oh my giddy aunt!
Jesse Weinstein

One puzzlement I noticed in the image is the hairpiece (or something) on the head of the male figure squeezing the ass of the lady in front. What /is/ that on his head? It looks like a cross between some kind of horns, and a mini-Cthulu.
Rich Keller

I’m listening to Berlioz’s Dream of a Witches Sabbath…

http://www.archive.org/details/BerliozSymphonieFantastiqueVmunch62

It was composed about 40 years before the painting, but I think it fits pretty well.

I really apreciated artists like Falero in college. They’d put their name and the date right at the bottom as if they knew I’d be taking a quiz during a slide presentation 100 some years later.
Birko

I think the original title is “Reaping for Brian May’s Locks”.
theLadyfingers

The only musical accompaniment that fits this is Diamanda GalÃ¡s’ You Must Be Certain Of The Devil.
technogeek

Hm. Wonder how much it would cost to get something like that reproduced on my living room ceiling.
awerich

Wow, wicked.
zuludaddy

Very interesting to note the ‘bristle end’ forward, which I’d heard long ago is how witches were portrayed riding brooms prior to the advent of aerodynamics. Can anyone out there verify the business-end aft representation of broom riding only arising in the 20th century?
skweltch

I like the use of light and shade
Rich Keller

This is is the music I was trying to think of earlier…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCnmFBVEFWo

Lizt’s Mephisto Waltz I.
jfrancis

…and it has the skin-tone orange and teal color palette so popular in movies these days
wylkyn

Is that a pelican skeleton in the upper-right?
Umbriel

zuludaddy — I can’t offer “verification”, but I haven’t seen any aerodynamic depictions from before the 20th century, and I have at least one book from the 1970s that alludes to the “streamlining” switch.

I think the specific basis for the “bristles forward” method is that witches were supposed to ride their brooms the way kids do (or at least did) when playing “horsie”.

And I don’t know who anon #2 is spending time with, but I wouldn’t describe the young lady in the foreground as “small breasted”. “Deliriously hot” would be my choice of words.
- zuludaddy
  
  Thx Umbriel,
  
  Yes, had the image of “horsie” in mind… Can tell you that a very smart Wiccan friend posits a drugs connection to the broomstick riding element of witchery: a paste or mush of psychotropic or hallucinogenic plant matter would be rubbed onto the handle, and, ummm… brought into the body via rubbing of the vulva on the treated handle, with exuberant – and decidedly unchurchly – results…
  
  As to the young lady in the bottom foreground: you, sir, are very most correct. I should like to get to know her better.