The skull of Ann Glover

Original illustration

Nib and ink on Arches cotton paper

300gsm / 140lb

12x9.5cm / 4.8x3.8in (picture size) 

15x12.5cm / 6x4.9in (frame size)

2021

Housed in a beautiful Florentine wooden gilt frame

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About:

Ann Glover (died November 16, 1688) was the last person to be hanged in Boston as a witch, although the Salem witch trials in nearby Salem, Massachusetts, occurred mainly in 1692.

By 1680, Ann and her daughter Mary were living in Boston — at the time, part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony — where they worked as housekeepers for John Goodwin. In the summer of 1688, Martha Goodwin (age 13) accused Ann Glover's daughter of stealing laundry. This caused Ann to have a fierce argument with Martha and the Goodwin children, which then supposedly caused them to become ill and to start acting strangely.[7] The doctor who was called suggested it was caused by witchcraft, because he could not offer another diagnosis or heal the children. Martha and the other children seemed to be "bewitched" [8]

Glover was arrested and tried for witchcraft. Her answers could not be understood, and for a time her accusers thought she was speaking a language of the devil, but it became clear that this was not the case. In the words of her leading accuser, the Reverend Cotton Mather, "the court could have no answer from her but in the Irish which was her native language..." (Memorable Providence, 1689). By that time she had apparently lost the ability to speak English, though she could still understand it. An interpreter was found for her and the trial proceeded.

(Read more on Wikipedia)