Witches' Flight Witches' Flight Witches' Flight (; also known as Witches in Flight or Witches in the Air), is an oil on canvas painting completed in 1798 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. It was part of a series of six paintings related to witchcraft acquired by the Duke and Duchess of Osuna in 1798. It has been described as "the most beautiful and powerful of Goya's Osuna witch paintings." The painting was sold to the Duke and Duchess of Osuna on 27 June 1798, to decorate their villa La Alameda, on the outskirts of Madrid. It was then sold in 1896
The Witch-Cult in Western Europe "s'esbattre", meaning "to frolic". Most historians disagree, arguing instead that the organizers of the witch trials adopted terms predominantly associated with Judaism, including "Sabbath", in order to denigrate witches as the equivalent to Jews, who were also highly denigrated in mainstream European culture during this period. In fact, many witch trial accounts used not only "Sabbath" but also "synagogue" in reference to gatherings of witches. The idea of a witch cult that until early modern times managed to survive was quickly dismissed by historians. From the 1920s on, Murray's theory was assailed by critics such as George Lincoln Burr, Hugh