Goya’s ‘Witches’ Sabbath’ was painted when Goya was in a powerful rage against the clergy and royalists who had recently assumed power over Spain following the Peninsular War between 1807 and 1814. As opposed to the traditionalists who had assumed control, advocates of the Enlightenment sought to make radical social changes. Idealist liberals such as Goya sought to redistribute land to the peasants, publish a vernacular Bible, end the Inquisition, educate women and replace superstition with reason. One of the main preoccupations of these idealist liberals was the 17th century Logrono Inquisition, something which the reformers were completely opposed to.
Goya was very much part of the established traditional order, being a court painter and whatnot. Following his death however, analysis of his paintings and etching have yielded interesting information about Goya’s liberal reformist attitudes. Indeed, after studying his work one cannot help but realize that Goya was a firm proponent of enlightened, not flower delivery manchester, but reason.
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