Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat)
1820–1823 · Oil on plaster, transferred to canvas · Museo del Prado, Madrid
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Francisco Goya (1746–1828)
- Year
- 1820–1823
- Medium
- Oil on plaster, transferred to canvas
- Original size
- 140 × 438 cm
- Collection
- Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Movement
- Romanticism
A silhouetted goat in a monk's robe, the Devil, harangues a packed crowd of witches whose faces gape and leer in the gloom, while at the far right a young woman in black sits apart, hands in a muff, the only figure painted with any care. Goya painted the scene in oil directly onto the plaster of the ground floor of the Quinta del Sordo, the house outside Madrid he bought in 1819, as one of the fourteen Black Paintings he made for himself between 1820 and 1823 and never explained. They were transferred to canvas in the 1870s, and this one lost about 140 centimetres of its width in the process. The thick, sooty paint and the mob of faces make it the most crowded and the most savage of the series. It hangs with the others in the Museo del Prado.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A horned silhouette preaching to a mob of ghoulish faces in sooty blacks and ochres, a very wide, dark painting for a study, library or hallway at 36×24 in black. Charcoal, deep olive or stone walls suit the gloom; pair it with Saturn or The Sleep of Reason.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Romanticism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1820–1823)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- grand
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 36×24. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat) painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
