This essay aims to examine what the figure of the witch as a motif in art has looked like and how it has changed through history. The study focuses on witches in the iconography of the renaissance, the 19th century and contemporary art. Two artworks are chosen from each period, one typical for the witchcraft iconography of that specific era and one atypical. The artworks are then analyzed in relation to literary sources concerning the role of the witch in the time period they were made. By doing this, the essay also examines how the witch-hunts of the 1400-1600s affected the iconography of that period, and how in later epochs other societal shifts and situations such as the widespread prostitution of the 19th century and our own struggles today with issues such as the climate crisis can be related to the witch through the lens of art. The essay argues that the witch as a motif has changed throughout art history, from being depicted as a mostly dangerous or at best satirical figure during the renaissance, to a seductive femme fatale in the 19th century, and at last a symbol of feminist, post-colonial and environmental resistance in contemporary art. It is also argued that some aspects of the witch have survived thoughout these five hundred years, such as the idea of the witch as a disruptor of the norm and her ability to create a new world that is an upside-down version of our own.

This thesis describes how different 19th century poets and artists depicted elements of the medieval in their artwork as a means to contradict the rapid progress and metropolitan build-up of the Industrial Revolution. The poets discussed are John Keats and Alfred, Lord Tennyson; the painters include William Holman Hunt and John William Waterhouse. Examples of the poems and corresponding Pre-Raphaelite depictions include The Eve of Saint Agnes, La Belle Dame Sans Merci and The Lady of Shalott.