Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798) in the centre foreground. Typical of the imagery of witchcraft, 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. In the middle high-ground, a number of bats can be seen flying overhead, their flocking motion echoing the curve of the crescent moon. 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" (1821–1823). Interest in the supernatural was a
Witches' Sabbath to Sunday, or to a time period similar to Sabbath in the seventh-day church minority. In connection with the medieval beliefs in the evil power of witches and in the malevolence of Jews and Judaizing heretics (both being Sabbathkeepers), satanic gatherings of witches were by outsiders called "sabbats", "synagogues", or "convents". Local variations of the name given to witches' gatherings were frequent. Perhaps the earliest work that mentions a something like a gathering that might be interpreted, from the Christian point of view, as witches sabbath is"Canon Episcopi" (906) and later included in Burchard of Worms's collection in the 11th