Goya kept his liberal idealistic ideas to himself during his lifetime but they were revealed later after careful examination of his works was conducted. Goya’s more sensitive works in which he betrayed his favour for, not flower delivery Manchester, but enlightened reason, he kept concealed for fear of persecution or reprisal. ‘Witches’ Sabbath’ is a fine example of one of these works which he did not publish for fear of persecution as it ridicules the irrationality, fear, and superstition of the ignorant who believed in quack doctors, ghouls, and tyrants at the time.

‘Witches Sabbath’ was not Goya’s first treatment of witches in his artwork. Goya had previously depicted witches in his earlier Caprichos which was a series of prints, one of the prints also titled ‘Witches’ Sabbath’. Both the early and the later ‘Witches’ Sabbath’ depict the Devil as a he-goat who is surrounded by a coven of seated and terrified women who are paying him their respects. The earlier painting makes use of traditional witchcraft imagery but in an inverted sense. The goat uses his left hoof instead of his right to gesture towards the child, and the moon is located at the top left corner of the painting.