Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat)
1820–1823 · Oil on plaster, transferred to canvas · Museo del Prado, Madrid
📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.
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 exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. 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 24×36 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
- Exhibition poster of a Romanticism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1820–1823)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- 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 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
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
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
