Witches' Sabbath (Goya)
Encyclopedia
Witches' Sabbath or The Great He-Goat (Spanish: Aquelarre or El gran cabrón) are names given to a fresco
likely completed between 1820–1823 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya
. The work shows Satan
in the form of a hybrid goat-human figure rendered in silhouette, presiding in moonlight over a coven of disfigured, ugly and terrified witches. He holds absolute command over the women, who quake before him in fear. One of Goya's best known works, it generally assumed as a metaphorical satire on the credulity of the age, a mocking condemnation of both the popular superstition of the era and the witch trials
of the Spanish Inquisition
. The canvas contains examinations of violence, age, death and superstition.
Witches' Sabbath was painted at a time when superstition was widespread in Spanish culture and many rural peasants were susceptible to propaganda tales of secret societies, corrupted women and perverted religion. Spanish royalists and conservatives often used accusations of witchcraft
as a means to play on the fears of the lower class. Goya saw the Inquisition as wholly reactionary, and railed in his art, if not public life, against what he saw as a deliberate retreat into medievalism
. In this it can be thematically linked to his earlier etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
.
Goya completed the painting while living alone in mental and physical despair at the age of 75, as one of the 14 so called Black Paintings
executed in oil directly onto the plaster walls of his house. Goya did not intend for any of these paintings to be exhibited, did not write of them, and likely never spoke of them. As with the other works in the series, Witches' Sabbath reflects Goya's disillusionment with political and religious developments in Spain following the 1814 restoration of the Bourbon monarchy
. It was not until around 1874, some 50 years after his death, that they were taken down and transferred to canvas support. Witches' Sabbath was originally much wider; damage during transfer to the canvas led to the loss of approximately 140 cm to the right. At its reduced dimensions of 140 cm x 438 cm, its framing is unusually and tightly cropped
, adding to its haunted, spectral aura.
.
Goya left Spain and Quinta del Sordo in 1824 for exile in France, and ownership of the house passed to his grandson, Mariano. The titles of the Black Paintings have been attributed to Goya's children, and probably date to after his death in 1828; given the circumstances in which the works were painted, it is unlikely that he titled any of the Black paintings himself. The title of El Gran Cabron (The Great He-goat) was given by painter Antonio Brugada
(1804–1863). Witches' Sabbath derives its Spanish title from the Basque
word for a male goat – akerra. This was combined with the word larre or field, to give Aquelarre, or Domain of the He-Goat.
According to the 1830 inventory of Goya's friend, Antonio Brugada, the work was positioned in the ground floor of the Quinta where it occupied a full wall between two windows, opposite A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
. On the wall to the right were Saturn Devouring His Son
and Judith and Holofernes
, while Leocadia
, Two Old Men
and Old Man and Old Woman were painted on the wall to the left. Art historian Lawrence Gowing observed that the lower floor can be divided thematically in two; a male side – Saturn, A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
, and a female side – Judith and Holofernes
, Witches' Sabbath and Leocadia.
After various changes of ownership, in 1874 the house came into the possession of the Belgian Baron Emile d'Erlanger. After many years hanging on the walls, the murals were deteriorating badly and, in order to preserve them, the new owner of the house had them transferred to canvas under the direction of the curator
of the Museo del Prado, Salvador Martinez Cubells. Following their exhibition at the Paris Exposition Universelle
in 1878, where they were met with little reaction, d'Erlanger donated them to the Spanish state in 1881.
of witches. Hulking, he stands to the left with his back to the viewer as a silhouette. He wears a long beard while his mouth is wide open as if screaming. Before him crouch a circle of fearful women. The devil's absolute power over them has been compared to that of the king in Goya's 1815 The Junta of the Philippines
, where authority is gained not through respect or personal charisma, but through fear and domination. The women comprise a mixture of old and young, but share similar twisted facial expressions. They are mostly scowling and nervous, yet for the most part obedient. To the left of the devil, with her back to the viewer but her face in half profile, sits an old witch in a white hooded headdress resembling a nun's habit
. A number of bottles and vial
s lie to her right. Hughes has speculated that these "must contain the drugs and philter
s needed for the devilish ceremonies."
Only one woman differs – she is shown sitting on a chair to the far right. She is apart from the main group and her face is hidden by a black veil. It has been speculated that this woman is about to be initiated into the coven. Others suggest that she may represent the artist's maid Leocadia Weiss, whose portrait hung alongside this work in La Quinta del Sordo. The faces of the two main figures – those of the goat and the woman to the far right – are hidden.
As with the other works in the "Black Paintings", Goya began with a black background which he then painted over with lighter colours. In some of the darker areas of Witches' Sabbath, he let the black seep through, most obviously in the figure of the Devil, who is rendered entirely in black. Goya worked with broad and heavy brush strokes using tones of grey, blue and brown. It is likely that he worked with mixed materials; chemical analysis shows the use of oils. In his use of tone to create atmosphere, Goya drew on a tradition in Spanish art that stretched back to Velázquez
(1599–1660) and Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652). Ribera was an admirer of Caravaggio
(1571–1610) and adapted the Italian's pioneering use of tenebrism
and chiaroscuro
. The eyes of some of the figures emit beams of white light. Goya learned from these sources, and was also interested in the work of Rembrandt, some of whose prints he owned.
In contrast to his earlier murals, these works were not painted as frescoes. A mixed medium was probably used, as there are traces of oil. From x-ray it can be seen that in most the final image was painted over preparatory to drawing. Witches' Sabbath is the exception, having been painted directly on to the canvas. In contrast to the others, this work was not altered significantly by Goya after its first sketching. Like all the "Black Paintings", it is worked up through heavy slashing brush-strokes. The canvas was first underlaid with thick carbon black, before the image was created using white lead, Prussian blue
, vermillion of mercury, and crystals of powdered glass
, orpiment
and iron oxides.
Author Fred Licht notes that in the series, Goya's brushwork is "clumsy, ponderous, and rough" and lacking finish in comparison to his other work. Licht believes this was a deliberate approach by the artist to convey both his dismay at human inadequacy, and his own feelings of personal doubt.
The work was created in a powerful rage against the royalists and clergy who had retaken control of Spain after the Peninsular War
of 1807–1814. Advocates of the Enlightenment
sought to redistribute land to the peasants, educate women, publish a vernacular Bible, replace superstition with reason and end the Inquisition
. Witch hunting was one of the main preoccupations of the 17th century Logroño Inquisition
, and idealist liberals such as Goya were opposed by traditionalists who blocked reform.
As court painter, Goya was a part of the established traditional order. However, since his death, numerous paintings and etchings have emerged that indicate that he had a firm conviction in favour of enlightened reason. He kept these beliefs private: they were only expressed in his art, and his more sensitive works were not published at the time for fear of reprisal or persecution. Witches' Sabbath is one such painting, and mocks and ridicules the superstition, fear and irrationality of the ignorant who put faith in ghouls, quack doctors
and tyrants.
Goya had examined the imagery of witches in his earlier Caprichos series, and this later work shares mood and tone with his similarly titled Witches' Sabbath
of 1789. In both the 1789 and 1822 pictures the Devil is shown as a he-goat surrounded by terrified and seated women paying their respects. The 1789 painting utilises traditional imagery of witchcraft
in that many of the symbols used are inverted. The goat extends his left rather than right hoof towards the child, while the quarter moon faces out of the canvas at the top left corner. The inversion is used as a metaphor to describe the irrational
undermining of the liberals who argued for scientific, religious and social progress. Many of the scientific societies active at the time were condemned by church and state as subversive and their members held as "agents of the devil". Of the technique he used in the "Black Paintings", that of beginning with a black canvas, writer Barbara Stafford observed, that he "brusquely [inlaid] spots of light within prevailing darkness [and] aqua-tinted and painted visions [which] demonstrated the powerlessness of the unmoored intellect to unify a monstrously hybrid experience according to its own a priori transcendental laws."
is a probable cause for their relatively quick deterioration, and it is likely that they had begun to erode even before their removal from the Quinta walls. According to writer Evan Connell, in applying oil to plaster Goya "made a technical mistake that all but guaranteed disintegration." That he used chalk for the preparatory drawings compounded the problem as oil and chalk generally do not mix. Many of the "Black Paintings" were altered significantly during the restoration, according to Arthur Lubow what remain are "at best a crude facsimile of what Goya painted." The effects of time on the murals, coupled with the inevitable damage caused by the delicate operation of mounting the crumbling plaster on canvas, meant that most of the murals suffered extensive damage and lost a lot of paint. At the Prado, they were restored by museum staff, including Cubells, who repainted and restored much of Witches' Sabbath.
Cubells retouched a number of the witches' faces and the Devil's horns. He removed over 140 cm of landscape and sky to the right of the postulant
witch that had been badly damaged during the transfer to canvas. This had the effect of changing the relative position of the young woman, so that she was no longer in the centre of the composition. Some art historians have speculated that the area was beyond restoration; they consider it unlikely that such a large area painted by an artist of Goya's stature would be lightly discarded.
Others believe the removal was for aesthetic reasons, as an attempt to bring balance to a very long canvas, that the empty space to the right was considered 'unnecessary'. Yet Goya had often utilised empty space for dramatic and evocative effect, notably in The Dog
and Unfortunate events in the front seats of the ring of Madrid, and the death of the Mayor of Torrejón
, where areas of canvas are almost completely empty and devoid of detail; a move against traditional artistic conventions regarding balance and harmony.
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
likely completed between 1820–1823 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
. The work shows Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
in the form of a hybrid goat-human figure rendered in silhouette, presiding in moonlight over a coven of disfigured, ugly and terrified witches. He holds absolute command over the women, who quake before him in fear. One of Goya's best known works, it generally assumed as a metaphorical satire on the credulity of the age, a mocking condemnation of both the popular superstition of the era and the witch trials
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
of the Spanish Inquisition
Spanish Inquisition
The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition , commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition , was a tribunal established in 1480 by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval...
. The canvas contains examinations of violence, age, death and superstition.
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
as a means to play on the fears of the lower class. Goya saw the Inquisition as wholly reactionary, and railed in his art, if not public life, against what he saw as a deliberate retreat into medievalism
Medievalism
Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture.Since the 18th century, a...
. In this it can be thematically linked to his earlier etching The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters is an etching made by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes...
.
Goya completed the painting while living alone in mental and physical despair at the age of 75, as one of the 14 so called Black Paintings
Black Paintings
The Black Paintings is the name given to a group of paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819–1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his fear of insanity and by then, his bleak outlook on humanity...
executed in oil directly onto the plaster walls of his house. Goya did not intend for any of these paintings to be exhibited, did not write of them, and likely never spoke of them. As with the other works in the series, Witches' Sabbath reflects Goya's disillusionment with political and religious developments in Spain following the 1814 restoration of the Bourbon monarchy
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
. It was not until around 1874, some 50 years after his death, that they were taken down and transferred to canvas support. Witches' Sabbath was originally much wider; damage during transfer to the canvas led to the loss of approximately 140 cm to the right. At its reduced dimensions of 140 cm x 438 cm, its framing is unusually and tightly cropped
Cropping (image)
Cropping refers to the removal of the outer parts of an image to improve framing, accentuate subject matter or change aspect ratio. Depending on the application, this may be performed on a physical photograph, artwork or film footage, or achieved digitally using image editing software...
, adding to its haunted, spectral aura.
Background
Goya was tormented by dread of old age and fear of madness from the mid 1790s – the latter an anxiety carried from middle-age following an undiagnosed sickness that left him deaf. He was living in near solitude in a farmhouse he had converted to a studio outside Madrid, which became known as "La Quinta del Sordo" (House of the Deaf Man). He was adrift from his former public office, and likely to have been embittered by recent developments in Spanish politics. Like Goya, many liberals had hoped for state and religious reform and became disillusioned when the restored Bourbon monarchy, encouraged by the Catholic hierarchy, rejected the Spanish Constitution of 1812Spanish Constitution of 1812
The Spanish Constitution of 1812 was promulgated 19 March 1812 by the Cádiz Cortes, the national legislative assembly of Spain, while in refuge from the Peninsular War...
.
Goya left Spain and Quinta del Sordo in 1824 for exile in France, and ownership of the house passed to his grandson, Mariano. The titles of the Black Paintings have been attributed to Goya's children, and probably date to after his death in 1828; given the circumstances in which the works were painted, it is unlikely that he titled any of the Black paintings himself. The title of El Gran Cabron (The Great He-goat) was given by painter Antonio Brugada
Antonio Brugada
Antonio Brugada was a Spanish painter. Brugada is best known for his dramatic seascapes.Brugada was a friend of Francisco Goya, and was instrumental in cataloguing, and idetifying some of the mythological figures in Goya's c. 1823 "Black paintings" series.-Sources:*...
(1804–1863). Witches' Sabbath derives its Spanish title from the Basque
Basque language
Basque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
word for a male goat – akerra. This was combined with the word larre or field, to give Aquelarre, or Domain of the He-Goat.
According to the 1830 inventory of Goya's friend, Antonio Brugada, the work was positioned in the ground floor of the Quinta where it occupied a full wall between two windows, opposite A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
A Pilgrimage to San Isidro is one of the Black Paintings painted by Francisco de Goya between 1819–23 on the interior walls of the house known as "The House of the Deaf Man" that he purchased in 1819...
. On the wall to the right were Saturn Devouring His Son
Saturn Devouring His Son
Saturn Devouring His Son is the name given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It depicts the Greek myth of the Titan Cronus , who, fearing that he would be overthrown by his children, ate each one upon their birth...
and Judith and Holofernes
Judith and Holofernes (Goya)
Judith and Holofernes is the name given to one of the 14 Black Paintings painted by Francisco de Goya between 1819 and 1823. By this time, Goya was in his mid 70s and deeply disillusioned...
, while Leocadia
Leocadia (Goya)
La Leocadia or The Seductress are names given to an oil on linen painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya , completed sometime between 1819–23, as one of Goya's series of 14 "Black Paintings". It shows a woman commonly identified as Goya's maid, companion and possibly lover, Leocadia Weiss...
, Two Old Men
Two Old Men
Two Old Men, also known as Two Monks or An Old Man and a Monk are names given to one of the 14 "black paintings" painted by Francisco de Goya between 1819-23. Goya was then in his mid 70s and in mental and physical distress...
and Old Man and Old Woman were painted on the wall to the left. Art historian Lawrence Gowing observed that the lower floor can be divided thematically in two; a male side – Saturn, A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
A Pilgrimage to San Isidro is one of the Black Paintings painted by Francisco de Goya between 1819–23 on the interior walls of the house known as "The House of the Deaf Man" that he purchased in 1819...
, and a female side – Judith and Holofernes
Judith and Holofernes (Goya)
Judith and Holofernes is the name given to one of the 14 Black Paintings painted by Francisco de Goya between 1819 and 1823. By this time, Goya was in his mid 70s and deeply disillusioned...
, Witches' Sabbath and Leocadia.
After various changes of ownership, in 1874 the house came into the possession of the Belgian Baron Emile d'Erlanger. After many years hanging on the walls, the murals were deteriorating badly and, in order to preserve them, the new owner of the house had them transferred to canvas under the direction of the curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
of the Museo del Prado, Salvador Martinez Cubells. Following their exhibition at the Paris Exposition Universelle
Exposition Universelle (1878)
The third Paris World's Fair, called an Exposition Universelle in French, was held from 1 May through to 10 November 1878. It celebrated the recovery of France after the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.-Construction:...
in 1878, where they were met with little reaction, d'Erlanger donated them to the Spanish state in 1881.
Description
Witches' Sabbath shows the Devil in the form of a horned goat, a symbol of animal instinct, holding court before a covenCoven
A coven or covan is a name used to describe a gathering of witches or in some cases vampires. Due to the word's association with witches, a gathering of Wiccans, followers of the witchcraft-based neopagan religion of Wicca, is also described as a coven....
of witches. Hulking, he stands to the left with his back to the viewer as a silhouette. He wears a long beard while his mouth is wide open as if screaming. Before him crouch a circle of fearful women. The devil's absolute power over them has been compared to that of the king in Goya's 1815 The Junta of the Philippines
The Junta of the Philippines
The Junta of the Philippines or Sessions of the Junta of the Royal Company of the Philippines is an oil-on-canvas painting, c. 1815 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. The work is the largest Goya produced...
, where authority is gained not through respect or personal charisma, but through fear and domination. The women comprise a mixture of old and young, but share similar twisted facial expressions. They are mostly scowling and nervous, yet for the most part obedient. To the left of the devil, with her back to the viewer but her face in half profile, sits an old witch in a white hooded headdress resembling a nun's habit
Religious habit
A religious habit is a distinctive set of garments worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognisable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anachoritic life, although in their case without conformity to a particular uniform...
. A number of bottles and vial
Vial
A vial is a relatively small glass vessel or bottle, especially used to store medication as liquids, powders or in other forms like capsules. They can also be sample vessels; e.g., for use in autosampler devices in analytical chromatography.The glass can be colourless or coloured, clear or amber...
s lie to her right. Hughes has speculated that these "must contain the drugs and philter
Potion
A potion is a consumable medicine or poison.In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, sorcerer, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It might be used to heal, bewitch or poison people...
s needed for the devilish ceremonies."
Only one woman differs – she is shown sitting on a chair to the far right. She is apart from the main group and her face is hidden by a black veil. It has been speculated that this woman is about to be initiated into the coven. Others suggest that she may represent the artist's maid Leocadia Weiss, whose portrait hung alongside this work in La Quinta del Sordo. The faces of the two main figures – those of the goat and the woman to the far right – are hidden.
As with the other works in the "Black Paintings", Goya began with a black background which he then painted over with lighter colours. In some of the darker areas of Witches' Sabbath, he let the black seep through, most obviously in the figure of the Devil, who is rendered entirely in black. Goya worked with broad and heavy brush strokes using tones of grey, blue and brown. It is likely that he worked with mixed materials; chemical analysis shows the use of oils. In his use of tone to create atmosphere, Goya drew on a tradition in Spanish art that stretched back to Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
(1599–1660) and Jusepe de Ribera (1591–1652). Ribera was an admirer of Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
(1571–1610) and adapted the Italian's pioneering use of tenebrism
Tenebrism
Tenebrism, from the Italian tenebroso , is a style of painting using very pronounced chiaroscuro, where there are violent contrasts of light and dark, and darkness becomes a dominating feature of the image...
and chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
. The eyes of some of the figures emit beams of white light. Goya learned from these sources, and was also interested in the work of Rembrandt, some of whose prints he owned.
In contrast to his earlier murals, these works were not painted as frescoes. A mixed medium was probably used, as there are traces of oil. From x-ray it can be seen that in most the final image was painted over preparatory to drawing. Witches' Sabbath is the exception, having been painted directly on to the canvas. In contrast to the others, this work was not altered significantly by Goya after its first sketching. Like all the "Black Paintings", it is worked up through heavy slashing brush-strokes. The canvas was first underlaid with thick carbon black, before the image was created using white lead, Prussian blue
Prussian blue
Prussian blue is a dark blue pigment with the idealized formula Fe718. Another name for the color Prussian blue is Berlin blue or, in painting, Parisian blue. Turnbull's blue is the same substance but is made from different reagents....
, vermillion of mercury, and crystals of powdered glass
Smalt
Smalt is powdered glass, colored to a deep powder blue hue using cobalt ions derived from cobalt oxide . Smalt is used as a pigment in painting, and for surface decoration of other types of glass and ceramics, and other media...
, orpiment
Orpiment
Orpiment, As2S3, is a common monoclinic arsenic sulfide mineral. It has a Mohs hardness of 1.5 to 2 and a specific gravity of 3.46. It melts at 300 °C to 325 °C...
and iron oxides.
Author Fred Licht notes that in the series, Goya's brushwork is "clumsy, ponderous, and rough" and lacking finish in comparison to his other work. Licht believes this was a deliberate approach by the artist to convey both his dismay at human inadequacy, and his own feelings of personal doubt.
Interpretation
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
of 1807–1814. Advocates of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
sought to redistribute land to the peasants, educate women, publish a vernacular Bible, replace superstition with reason and end the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
. Witch hunting was one of the main preoccupations of the 17th century Logroño Inquisition
Basque witch trials
The Basque witch trials of the 17th century represent the most ambitious attempt at rooting out witchcraft ever undertaken by the Spanish Inquisition...
, and idealist liberals such as Goya were opposed by traditionalists who blocked reform.
As court painter, Goya was a part of the established traditional order. However, since his death, numerous paintings and etchings have emerged that indicate that he had a firm conviction in favour of enlightened reason. He kept these beliefs private: they were only expressed in his art, and his more sensitive works were not published at the time for fear of reprisal or persecution. Witches' Sabbath is one such painting, and mocks and ridicules the superstition, fear and irrationality of the ignorant who put faith in ghouls, quack doctors
Quackery
Quackery is a derogatory term used to describe the promotion of unproven or fraudulent medical practices. Random House Dictionary describes a "quack" as a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or publicly, to have skill, knowledge, or...
and tyrants.
Goya had examined the imagery of witches in his earlier Caprichos series, and this later work shares mood and tone with his similarly titled Witches' Sabbath
Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1789)
Witches' Sabbath is a 1798 oil on canvas by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Goya used the imagery of covens of witches in a number of works, most notably in one of his Black Paintings, Witches' Sabbath or The Great He-Goat which contains similar sharp political and social overtones...
of 1789. In both the 1789 and 1822 pictures the Devil is shown as a he-goat surrounded by terrified and seated women paying their respects. The 1789 painting utilises traditional imagery of witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
in that many of the symbols used are inverted. The goat extends his left rather than right hoof towards the child, while the quarter moon faces out of the canvas at the top left corner. The inversion is used as a metaphor to describe the irrational
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
undermining of the liberals who argued for scientific, religious and social progress. Many of the scientific societies active at the time were condemned by church and state as subversive and their members held as "agents of the devil". Of the technique he used in the "Black Paintings", that of beginning with a black canvas, writer Barbara Stafford observed, that he "brusquely [inlaid] spots of light within prevailing darkness [and] aqua-tinted and painted visions [which] demonstrated the powerlessness of the unmoored intellect to unify a monstrously hybrid experience according to its own a priori transcendental laws."
Damage and restoration
The fact that the Black Paintings were executed as fresco-seccoFresco-secco
Fresco-secco is a fresco painting technique in which pigments ground in water are tempered using egg yolk or whole egg mixed with water which are applied to plaster that has been moistened to simulate fresh plaster. No white is used...
is a probable cause for their relatively quick deterioration, and it is likely that they had begun to erode even before their removal from the Quinta walls. According to writer Evan Connell, in applying oil to plaster Goya "made a technical mistake that all but guaranteed disintegration." That he used chalk for the preparatory drawings compounded the problem as oil and chalk generally do not mix. Many of the "Black Paintings" were altered significantly during the restoration, according to Arthur Lubow what remain are "at best a crude facsimile of what Goya painted." The effects of time on the murals, coupled with the inevitable damage caused by the delicate operation of mounting the crumbling plaster on canvas, meant that most of the murals suffered extensive damage and lost a lot of paint. At the Prado, they were restored by museum staff, including Cubells, who repainted and restored much of Witches' Sabbath.
Cubells retouched a number of the witches' faces and the Devil's horns. He removed over 140 cm of landscape and sky to the right of the postulant
Postulant
A postulant was originally one who makes a request or demand; hence, a candidate. The use of the term is now generally restricted to those asking for admission into a monastery or a convent, both before actual admission and for the length of time preceding their admission into the novitiate...
witch that had been badly damaged during the transfer to canvas. This had the effect of changing the relative position of the young woman, so that she was no longer in the centre of the composition. Some art historians have speculated that the area was beyond restoration; they consider it unlikely that such a large area painted by an artist of Goya's stature would be lightly discarded.
Others believe the removal was for aesthetic reasons, as an attempt to bring balance to a very long canvas, that the empty space to the right was considered 'unnecessary'. Yet Goya had often utilised empty space for dramatic and evocative effect, notably in The Dog
The Dog (Goya)
The Dog is the name usually given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. It shows the head of a small black dog gazing upwards...
and Unfortunate events in the front seats of the ring of Madrid, and the death of the Mayor of Torrejón
Unfortunate events in the front seats of the ring of Madrid, and the death of the Mayor of Torrejón
Unfortunate events in the front seats of the ring of Madrid, and the death of the Mayor of Torrejón is an etching with burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin...
, where areas of canvas are almost completely empty and devoid of detail; a move against traditional artistic conventions regarding balance and harmony.