Four Naked Women, 1497, Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528, 7 1/2 x 5 3/16 in. (19.05 x 13.18 cm) (image, trimmed to platemark)19 3/4 × 15 3/4 × 1 1/8 in. (50.17 × 40.01 × 2.86 cm) (outer frame), Engraving, Germany, 15th century, As the year 1500 approached, fear of God’s Last Judgement intensified. Given society's fear of women, it was but a small leap to the label of 'witch.' In 1496, Albrecht Dürer’s godfather printed his second edition of Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches' Hammer), a handbook for detecting witches. It said women's insatiable desires made them throw in with the devil. Dürer’s 1497 engraving hints at conspiratorial mischief as four powerful nudes loom above a skull and bone, while a demon menaces at left. The puzzling 'O.G.H.' on the globe may stand for O Gott hüte (O God protect) or perhaps Orcus, Gehenna, Hades (Hell in Latin, Hebrew, and Greek).
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Four Naked Women, 1497, Albrecht Dürer, German, 1471–1528, image, trimmed, platemark, 19 3/4 × 15 3/4 × 1 1/8
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