Painting: "Witch Hill," or "The Salem Martyr" -- Oil painting by New York artist Thomas Slatterwhite Noble, 1869
Posted by kluciole at 3/6/2010 6:45 PM 
Categories: Conflict,National,Human Rights,Metaphysical,Art,History
Categories: Conflict,National,Human Rights,Metaphysical,Art,History
Caption: "Witch Hill," or "The Salem Martyr"
Description: Oil painting by New York artist Thomas Slatterwhite Noble, 1869. The painting won a silver medal at the 1869 Cincinnati Industrial Exposition. Noble gained a reputation for his dramatic paintings of abolitionist subjects, and later turned to the Salem witch trials for another powerful moral theme. A tradition in the Noble family holds that the model for Witch Hill was a Cincinnati librarian who was a descendant of a woman who was executed in the Salem witch trials.
Source: Thomas Slatterwhite Noble 1835 - 1907. By James D. Birchfield, Albert Boime, and William J. Hennessey. Lexington: University of Kentucky Art Museum. Collection of the New York Historical Society, 1988.
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Such a very dark time for women in particular, but for society. Posing for this portrait probably had some redeeming value for the woman whose descendant fell victim to such horror.
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Hopefully so, Christine. This painting was sent to me the other day by a woman who, like me, is the 10th great-granddaughter of Mary Bradbury, who was convicted in Salem on September 9th, 1692. She was sentenced to hang, but escaped from prison before the sentence was carried out. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bradbury
I am related by marriage to three other women who were convicted and hanged. I descend from two sisters of one of the judges, Samuel Sewall. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Sewall
My 9th great-grandfather was the first cousin of Reverend John Hale, "the witch hunter," and is often confused in some historical texts for his cousin, as they were both named John Hale, lived almost the exact same years, and were both married to women named Sarah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hale_(Beverly_minister)
Lots of Salem history going on in my family!
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