Francisco Goya, The Bewitched Man, 1798

This is one of six paintings about witches and devils that Goya painted for the Duke and Duchess of Osuna. The couple also loved the plays of Antonio de Zamora and this scene is directly inspired by Zamora’s play ‘The Man Bewitched by Force,’ in which the young priest Don Claudio becomes convinced by a slave girl that if the lamp in her room goes out, he will die. In one scene he enters the room to refill the oil lamp, but the slave has prepared some surprises to frighten him. The lamp rests upon the statue of a goat she-devil. He trembles before large paintings of dancing donkeys in the room, and as he nervously pours the oil he says “Monstrous lamp, whose civil light from me like a candlewick sucks up life’s oil, I stay in the belief that I shall conquer your evil influence.” It is then that chains rattle and Don Claudio drops his oil can in terror.⁠⠀
In the bottom corner we see a book with the title “Lampara Descomunal” (meaning “Monstrous Lamp”), which would be used by a stage manager or prompter during the theatrical performance.⁠