Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) posthumously. Around 1874, some fifty years after his death, the plaster murals were taken down and transferred to canvas supports. "Witches' Sabbath" was much wider before transfer – it was the broadest of the Black Paintings. During the transfer about of the painting was cut from the right-hand side. At its reduced dimensions of 141 × 436 cm (56 × 172 in), its framing is unusually tightly cropped, which some critics find adds to its haunted, spectral aura, although others believe it distorts Goya's intentions by moving the centre of balance and reducing the painting's impact. Goya did not title
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