“The Ghost of Samuel Appearing to Saul and the Witch of Endor”
This wonderfully frightening oil on canvas painting is by the Italian Baroque artist, Salvator Rosa, from 1668. This piece has acquired several titles over the past centuries, including “The Ghost of Samuel Appearing to Saul and the Witch of Endor”, “Apparition of the Spirit of Samuel to Saul”, and “The Shade of Samuel appearing to Saul”.
In this piece, Rosa depicts a passage from the Bible, specifically Samuel I (28: 6–14). In these passages, a distraught Saul, who is king of Israel, visits the necromancer witch of Endor to find out who will win the upcoming battle with the Philistines.
The witch, depicted as the shirtless man lighting a branch on fire, calls up the spirit of Samuel the prophet, who is depicted in center right in a hooded white cloak. This act frightens Saul in the process, who is seen in armor crouching on the floor at the bottom left of the canvas. The King’s two men are cowering on the floor behind Samuel the prophet.
During his lifetime, the prophet Samuel was a mentor to Saul. It was even Samuel who anointed Saul as the first King of the Israelites. When the spirit of Samuel is recalled, he delivers the devastating news to Saul that God has forsaken him for his numerous sins. He declares that Saul and all three of his sons will not survive the battle, and that David will take his throne. Skeletal beasts and other terrible apparitions are depicted in anguished poses behind and above the witch. During the battle with the Philistines the next day, all three of Saul’s sons were slain, as predicted. A devastated Saul throws himself on his own sword and Samuel’s prophecy comes to pass.
This was one of Rosa’s later pieces, made just five years before his death. “The Ghost of Samuel Appearing to Saul and the Witch of Endor” is currently on display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
For more on Salvator Rosa, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
