Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798)
1798 oil painting of a Witches' Sabbath by Francisco Goya.
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It depicts Satan as a crowned goat surrounded by witches in a moonlit landscape.[1] Francisco Goya created the oil-on-canvas work Witches' Sabbath in 1798.[2] The Duke and Duchess of Osuna acquired the painting in 1798, along with five other witchcraft-themed works.[3]
Key facts and history
The Duke and Duchess of Osuna acquired the painting in 1798 along with five other witchcraft-themed works.[3] Many symbols in the painting are inverted, typical of witchcraft imagery.[4] Bats fly overhead, their motion echoing the crescent moon's curve.[4] Goya used similar witch-coven imagery in his later Black Painting Witches' Sabbath (1821–1823).[5]
The duchess is credited with the acquisition, but whether the pieces were commissioned or bought already finished remains unclear.[3] A wreath of grape leaves crowns the goat, which also has prominent horns.[1] The painting was made in 1798 during a conflict between liberals and those backing a church-and-royalist state, a struggle that later led to the Ominous Decade (1823–1833).[5]
What the cited sources add
Critics interpret the painting as mocking medieval fears exploited by the established order for political and financial gain.[6]
References
- Wikipedia, "Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: A History of Western Art, fifth ed., Laurie S. Adams, p. 407 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Aquelarre in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Sotheby's to sell original receipt for Goya painting in Danny Boyle's art heist movie Trance", ArtDaily; Grange, 63 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Boime, 261; Hughes, 153 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Dark Knight". New York Magazine, Volume 22, No. 2, 1989. 111. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Boime, 262 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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