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''Witches' Sabbath'' or ''The Great He-Goat'' (〔Spanish titles from, respectively, Hughes, 386 and Boime, 110〕) are names given to an oil mural by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746–1828), probably completed between 1821 and 1823. It explores themes of violence, intimidation, aging and death.〔Murray, 446〕 Satan hulks, in the form of a goat, in moonlit silhouette over a coven of ugly and terrified witches.〔Boime, 111〕 A withdrawn young girl in black sits to the far right, apart and withdrawn from the other women; perhaps in defiance. Goya was then around 75 years old, living alone and suffering from acute mental and physical distress. It is one of the fourteen so-called 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 record of his intentions in creating them. Absent of fact, ''Witches' Sabbath'' is generally seen by art historians as a satire on the credulity of the age,〔Lima, 180〕 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 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 fourteen〔A contemporary inventory compiled by Goya's friend, the painter Antonio Brugada, records fifteen. See Lubow, 2003〕 Black Paintings; their modern names came about after his death. They are not inscripted, mentioned in his letters,〔As he had with the ''Caprichos'' and ''Disasters of War'' series. See Licht, 159〕 and there are no records of him speaking of them.〔Licht, 159〕 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 contributing the rest.〔Hughes, 16〕 The title ''El Gran Cabron'' (''The Great He-Goat'') was given by painter Antonio Brugada (1804–63).〔Junquera, 66〕 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''.〔Boime, 261〕 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.〔Connell, 175〕 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.〔The cause of Goya's illness is unknown; theories range from polio to syphilis to lead poisoning. See Connell, 78–79〕 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.〔Connell, 204; Hughes, 372〕 Art historians assume Goya felt alienated from the social and political trends that followed the 1814 restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, and that he viewed these developments as reactionary means of social control. In his unpublished art he seems to have railed against what he saw as a tactical retreat into Medievalism.〔Larson, Kay. "Dark Knight". ''New York Magazine'', Volume 22, No. 20, 15 May 1989. 111.〕 It is thought that he had hoped for political and religious reform, but like many liberals became disillusioned when the restored Bourbon monarchy and Catholic hierarchy rejected the Spanish Constitution of 1812.〔Stoichita; Coderch, 25–30〕 Goya went to exile in France in 1824, and ownership of the house passed to his grandson Mariano.〔Gowing, 506–508〕 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''.〔Junquera, 33, 42〕 On the wall to the right were ''Saturn Devouring His Son'' and ''Judith and Holofernes''. ''Leocadia'', ''Two Old Men'' and ''Two Old Men Eating Soup'' were on the left wall.〔Fernández, G. "(Goya: The Black Paintings )". theartwolf.com, August 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2015〕 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 ''Leocadia''.〔Junquera, 60〕 The house changed owners a number of 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.〔Hughes, 17〕〔Glendinning, 466〕 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 Martinez Cubells.〔Lubow, Arthur. "(The Secret of the Black Paintings )". ''New York Times'', 27 July 2003. Retrieved 13 June 2015〕 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.〔〔Hughes, 16–17〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Witches' Sabbath (The Great He-Goat)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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