"Scenes of the occult were rare, though not unknown, in 17th- century Italy. During his years in Florence (1640-9) Rosa produced a number of scenes of witchcraft, of which this (signed) painting is the most ambitious surviving example. It may be the painting referred to in a letter by Rosa of 1666 as having been painted twenty years earlier and one of his finest, and it is probably contemporary with one of Rosa's poems entitled 'The Witch'."
I want to point out two specific details that I found interesting.
Right underneath the hanged man there is a women holding a doll. The doll has nails in it and she is pointing it towards a black mirror.
Underneath the big bird skeleton there is a knight being beaten with a broom. He has a torch in his hand and lights a fire to a rabbit who lays on a piece of paper. Look at the symbols. They look like "real" symbols. I don't think these mean anything, but this painter has obvious read a book or two about magic.
Here is a link to a larger version of the painting that you can zoom into and see all the details:
https://grecosghosts.files.wordpress.co ... itches.jpg
There is also some interesting details around the old women. Using a thighbone is heard of in real witchcraft, brass cauldron is a classic, she has a bottle of oil and some small ink bottles. She is probably preparing ink at this moment. Using both blood, oil and plants to infuse it.
Rope magic is another old form of magic, there are two golden coins (grave ritual?) and all the way to the left we see 2 playing cards which looks to be ordinary cards (no tarot).
