Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798) during a period when tales of midnight gatherings of witches and the appearance of the devil were commonplace among the rural populace. They reflect the artist's disdain for the popular tendency towards superstition and the church-led return to medieval fears. Goya's depictions of such scenes mocked what he saw as medieval fears exploited by the established order for political and capital gain. Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798) Witches' Sabbath () is a 1798 oil on canvas by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Today it is held in the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, Madrid. It was purchased in 1798 along with five other
Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) The paintings were completed in secret: he did not title any of the works or leave a record of his intentions in creating them. Absent of fact, "Witches' Sabbath" is generally seen by art historians as a satire on the credulity of the age, a condemnation of superstition and the witch trials of the Spanish Inquisition. As with the other works in the group, "Witches' Sabbath" reflects its painter's disillusionment and can be linked thematically to his earlier etching "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters" as well as the "Disasters of War" print series, another bold political statement published only