Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) There is no record of Goya's thoughts during this period. He completed the series during a period recuperating from illness, possibly lead poisoning, when he was in considerable mental and physical pain, and withdrew from public life. "Witches' Sabbath" is believed to be a rather bitter, but silent, protest against the royalists and clergy who had retaken control of Spain after the Peninsular War of 1807–14. Advocates of the Enlightenment had sought to redistribute land to the peasants, to educate women, publish a vernacular Bible and, by replacing superstition with reason, put an end to the Inquisition. Witch hunting, seen
Víctor Alba the University of Kansas and in the Kent State University in Ohio. Initially identifying as a Marxist, he adopted social-democratic and anti-communist views during his exile. In 1974 he retired from Kent State University, returning to Spain where he died in 2003. Alba wrote many works in various languages: Víctor Alba Víctor Alba who also went as Pere Pagès i Elies (Barcelona, 1916 – Sant Pere de Ribes, March 10, 2003) was a Spanish anti-Stalinist communist politician, journalist, writer and Spanish university professor. Alba began to study rights at a young age, beginning his studies at the University of Barcelona.