J.W. EHNINGER, 1886

In this fireback, the three witches of Shakespeare's play Macbeth are depicted encircling their caldron and enacting their spells. One can almost hear them chanting their mantras and portents from Act IV, Scene I: "Double, double, toil and trouble" or "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes." The low, raised relief of the center panel imaginatively depicts Shakespeare's witches with convincing realism, and the two adjacent panels illustrate single witches enacting their wicked powers. For another example of this fireback, please refer to the University of Vermont's Royal Tyler Theater, where it hangs on the north wall of the entrance.