Artist : Marcelle Hanselaar
Title : The Taboo, the Witch of Endor 
Medium : etching / aquatint, ed 30
Dimensions : 38 x 43 cm, plate size 20 x 25 cm


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The woman soothsayer at the cave in Endor had been in great demand until King Saul forbade fortune-telling under penalty of death. Yet Saul, in the darkest hour of his life, asks such a creature to help him.  All other remedies have failed him; no dreams or prophets appear to him and he has been cursed by priests. The witch points out to this stranger that she might be in danger of persecution as he demands of her what is forbidden. He reassures her that she will be protected and its only when he asks her to bring Samuel back from the dead that she recognises who he is.