Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat)
Witches' Sabbath or The Great He-Goat (Spanish: Aquelarre or El gran cabrón
It is one of the fourteen Black Paintings that Goya applied in oil on the plaster walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo. 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 some art historians as a satire on the credulity of the age,[4] 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 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 140 cm (55 in) 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.
Background
Goya did not title any of the 14[5] Black Paintings; their modern names came about after his death. They are not inscribed, mentioned in his letters,[6] and there are no records of him speaking of them.[7] The works today are known by a variety of titles, most of which date to around the 1860s: his children were largely responsible for the names, with close friend Bernardo de Iriarte contributing the rest.[8] The title El Gran Cabrón (The Great He-Goat) was given by painter Antonio Brugada (1804–1863).[9] The Basque term for a Witches' Sabbath, akelarre, is the source of the Spanish title Aquelarre and a derivation of akerra, the Basque word for a male goat, which may have been combined with the word larre ("field") to arrive at akelarre.[10]
The historical record of Goya's later life is relatively scant; no accounts of his thoughts from this time survive. He deliberately suppressed a number of his works from this period – most notably the Disasters of War series – which are today considered amongst his finest.[11] He was tormented by a dread of old age and fear of madness, the latter possibly from anxiety caused by an undiagnosed illness that left him deaf from the early 1790s.[12] Goya had been a successful and royally placed artist, but withdrew from public life during his final years. From the late 1810s, he lived in near-solitude outside Madrid in a farmhouse converted into a studio. The house had become known as la Quinta del Sordo ("the House of the Deaf Man"), after the nearest farmhouse had coincidentally also belonged to a deaf man.[13]
Art historians assume Goya felt alienated from the social and political trends that followed the 1814
Goya went to exile in France in 1824, and ownership of the house passed to his grandson Mariano.[16] An 1830 inventory by Brugada indicates that the work took a full wall between two windows on the first floor, opposite A Pilgrimage to San Isidro.[17] On the wall to the right were Saturn Devouring His Son and Judith and Holofernes. La Leocadia, Two Old Men and Two Old Ones Eating Soup were on the left wall.[18] Art historian Lawrence Gowing observed that the lower floor was divided thematically, with a male side – Saturn and A Pilgrimage to San Isidro – and a female side – Judith and Holofernes, Witches' Sabbath and La Leocadia.[19] The house changed owners several times before March 1873, when it came into the possession of the Belgian Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger, who speculated that the area would appreciate in value over the coming years.[20][21] The murals had deteriorated badly after many years on the walls. To preserve them, the new owner of the house had them transferred to canvas under the direction of the art restorer of the Museo del Prado, Salvador Martínez Cubells.[22] Following their exhibition at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1878, where they were met with little reaction, d'Erlanger donated them to the Spanish state in 1881.[23][24]
Description
Satan preaches from a raised earth mound and is dressed in
He holds court before a circle of crouched and mostly terrified women, accepted by art historians as a coven of witches.[28] Some bow their heads in fear, others look towards him in open-mouthed and rapt awe. Describing the women, art historian Brian McQuade writes that the "sub-humanity of the gathered group is underlined by their bestial features and moronic stares".[29] Satan's absolute power over the women has been compared to that of the king in Goya's 1815 The Junta of the Philippines, where authority is gained not from respect or personal charisma, but through fear and domination.[3] The women are a mixture of old and young, and have similar twisted features; all but one are scowling, nervous and obsequious. Goya's use of tone to create atmosphere is reminiscent of both Velázquez and Jusepe de Ribera. The latter was an admirer of Caravaggio and utilised tenebrism and chiaroscuro. Goya learned from these sources, and from Rembrandt, some of whose prints he owned.[30]
An old woman sits to the right of the goat, her back to the viewer. Her face is half hidden, and she wears a white-hooded headdress resembling a nun's
As with the other Black Paintings, Goya began with a black background which he painted over with lighter pigments, then with broad, heavy brushstrokes of grey, blue, and brown. The darker areas were achieved by leaving the black under-paint exposed; this is most obvious in the figure of the Devil. Like the other works in the series, Witches' Sabbath is worked up through heavy, slashing brushstrokes. Technical analysis indicates that most of the Black Paintings began with preparatory drawings. Witches' Sabbath is the exception; the final composition seems to have been painted directly onto the wall.
Art historian Fred Licht notes that Goya's brushwork appears "clumsy, ponderous, and rough" and lacks finish compared to his earlier work. Licht believes this was a deliberate ploy to physically convey dismay at human inadequacy and his feelings of personal doubt.[36] Unlike the other paintings in the series, Witches' Sabbath was not significantly altered by Goya after his initial draft.[34]
Interpretation
There is no record of Goya's thoughts during this period. He completed the Black Paintings during a period recuperating from illness, possibly
As a court painter, Goya was a part of the established order; surviving evidence indicates he was acquiesced to the wishes of his patrons. Yet numerous paintings and etchings that have since emerged suggest his convictions favoured liberalism.[38][39] He seems to have kept such beliefs private, only expressing them in his private art; his more sensitive works were not published at the time, probably for fear of reprisal or persecution. In Witches' Sabbath, Goya seems to mock and ridicule the superstition, fear, and irrationality of those placing their faith in ghouls, quack doctors and tyrants.[14][31][40]
Goya had used witchcraft imagery in his 1797–98
Describing the techniques employed in the Black Paintings, particularly the visible black ground paint, art historian Barbara Stafford said that "by brusquely inlaying spots of light with prevailing darkness, Goya's aquatinted and painted visions demonstrated the powerlessness of the unmoored intellect to unify a monstrously hybrid experience according to its own a priori transcendental laws."[44]
Restoration
Between 1874 and 1878 restorer Salvador Martinez Cubells was tasked with retouching the goat's horns and a number of the witches' faces.[29] He removed more than 140 cm (55 in) of landscape and sky to the right of the postulant witch, where the paint had been badly damaged. This alteration significantly shifted the work's centre of balance; the young woman was no longer near the middle of the composition, thus reducing both her prominence and the possibility that she was seen to be the focus of the work.[23]
Some art historians believe the removed area on the right was beyond restoration, given how unlikely it is that a large section of a painting by an artist of Goya's stature would be lightly discarded.
In both works, Goya left large empty areas in what seems to have been a reaction against contemporary conventions of balance and harmony.[47] This approach became highly influential on modern artists such as Francis Bacon, who greatly admired Goya's depiction of what Bacon described as "the void".[48]
Condition
The painting is in poor condition. Time and a complicated transfer – which involved mounting crumbling plaster onto canvas – have caused extensive damage and significant paint loss. The work seems to have been seriously damaged even before its removal from the walls of Goya's home;
Many of the Black Paintings were significantly altered during the restoration of the 1870s, and critic
They show the painting in situ in the Quinta del Sordo and are the most reliable indicators of its appearance before restoration. But Laurent's work presents difficulties, not least because some areas of the photographs lack resolution and contain indistinct passages. Photographs from this period tended to darken yellow and red areas while lightening blues and violets.[51]
References
Notes
- ^ Spanish titles from, respectively, Hughes, 386 and Boime, 110
- ^ Murray, 446
- ^ a b Boime, 111
- ^ Lima, 180
- ^ A contemporary inventory compiled by Goya's friend, the painter Antonio Brugada, records fifteen. See Lubow, 2003
- Caprichos and Disasters of Warseries. See Licht, 159
- ^ Licht, 159
- ^ Hughes, 16
- ^ Junquera, 66
- ^ Boime, 261
- ^ Connell, 175
- ^ The cause of Goya's illness is unknown; theories range from polio to syphilis to lead poisoning. See Connell, 78–79
- ^ Connell, 204; Hughes, 372
- ^ a b Larson, Kay. "Dark Knight". New York Magazine, Volume 22, No. 20, 15 May 1989. 111.
- ^ Stoichita; Coderch, 25–30
- ^ Gowing, 506–508
- ^ Junquera, 33, 42
- ^ Fernández, G. "Goya: The Black Paintings". theartwolf.com, August 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2015
- ^ Junquera, 60
- ^ Hughes, 17
- ^ Glendinning, 466
- ^ New York Times, 27 July 2003. Retrieved 13 June 2015
- ^ a b c "Aquelarre, or Witches Sabbath". Museo del Prado. Retrieved 13 June 2015
- ^ Hughes, 16–17
- ^ a b Dowling, 453
- ^ Vertova, 484–487
- ^ Posèq, 37
- ^ Boime, 110
- ^ a b c McQuade, 161
- ^ Acton, 93–95
- ^ a b c d Boime, 262
- ^ a b c Hughes, 385
- ^ a b Buchholz, 79
- ^ a b Hughes, 382
- ^ a b Junquera, 37
- ^ Licht, 194
- ^ Posèq, 30
- ^ Mansbach (1978), 340
- Irish Times5 October 2015. Retrieved 1 March, 2024
- ^ Tal (2012), 34
- ^ Boime, 260
- ^ Nilsson, 27–38
- ^ Hughes, 153
- ^ Stafford, 82
- ^ Hughes, 360
- ^ Havard, 65
- ^ a b Hagen & Hagen, 89
- ^ Gale & Stephens, 264
- ^ Connell, 205
- ^ Laurent took seven confirmed photographs of the series and two more are probably his work. See Glendinning, 465
- ^ Glendinning, 469
Sources
- Acton, Mary. Learning to Look at Paintings. New York: Routledge, 1997. ISBN 978-0-415-14890-0
- Boime, Albert. Art in an Age of Counterrevolution, 1815–1848. Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-226-06337-9
- Buchholz, Elke Linda. Francisco de Goya. Cologne: Könemann, 1999. ISBN 978-3-8290-2930-8
- Connell, Evan S. Francisco Goya: A Life. New York: Counterpoint, 2004. ISBN 978-1-58243-307-3
- Dowling, John. "Buero Vallejo's Interpretation of Goya's Black Paintings". Hispania, Volume 56, No. 2, May 1973
- Gale, Matthew; Stephens, Chris. Francis Bacon. New York: Skira Rizzoli, 2009. ISBN 978-0-8478-3275-0
- Gallucci, Margaret. "The Witch as Muse: Art, Gender, and Power in Early Modern Europe". Renaissance Quarterly, Volume 59, Issue 1, 2006
- Glendinning, Nigel. "The Strange Translation of Goya's Black Paintings". The Burlington Magazine, Volume 117, No. 868, 1975
- Gowing, Lawrence. "Book review: Goya's 'Black' Paintings. Truth and Reason in Light and Liberty by Priscilla E. Muller". The Burlington Magazine, Volume 128, No. 1000, July 1986
- Hagen, Rose-Marie & Hagen, Rainer. Francisco Goya, 1746–1828. London: Taschen, 2003. ISBN 978-3-8228-1823-7
- Havard, Robert. The Spanish Eye: Painters and Poets of Spain. Suffolk: Tamesis Books, 2007
- ISBN 978-0-394-58028-9
- Junquera, Juan José. The Black Paintings of Goya. London: Scala Publishers, 2008. ISBN 978-1-85759-273-3
- Licht, Fred. Goya: The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art. University of Michigan: Universe Books, 1979. ISBN 978-0-87663-294-9
- Lima, Robert. Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theater and Drama. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. ISBN 978-0-8131-2362-2
- Mansbach, Steven. "Goya's Liberal Iconography: Two Images of Jovellanos". Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, volume 41 , 1978. JSTOR 750882
- Murray, Christopher John. Encyclopedia of the Romantic Era, 1760–1850, Volume 1. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-57958-423-8
- Nilsson, Stenake. "The Ass Sequence in Los Caprichos". Journal of Art History, Volume 47, Issue 1, 1978
- Posèq, Avigdor. "The Goat in Goya's Witches' Sabbaths". Notes in the History of Art, Volume 18, No. 4, 1999. JSTOR 23206811
- Stafford, Barbara Maria. Visual Analogy: Consciousness as the Art of Connecting. Boston, MA: MIT Press, 2001. 82. ISBN 978-0-262-69267-0
- Tal, Guy. "An Enlightened‹ View of Witches Melancholy and Delusionary Experience in Goya's 'Spell'". Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, 75. JSTOR 41642644
- Vertova, Luisa. "Treasures from Florentine Houses". The Burlington Magazine, Volume 102, No. 692, November 1960
External links
- At the Museo del Prado
- Digital tour of the Quinta del Sordo
- Media related to The Great He-Goat by Francisco de Goya at Wikimedia Commons