Arnold Böcklin, Will-O’-The-Wisp (Das Irrlicht)

Museum Georg Schäfer, Schweinfurt

Date: 1862
Technique: Oil on canvas, 81 x 59 cm

A will-o'-the-wisp or ignis fatuus (Latin, from ignis, "fire" + fatuus, "foolish") — also called will-o'-wisp, corpse candle, jack-o'-lantern, and friar's lantern— is the folklore term for a ghostly light sometimes seen at night or twilight over bogs, swamps, and marshes. It resembles a flickering lamp and is sometimes said to recede if approached. Much traditional, non-scientific belief surrounds the phenomenon.

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