[1] The painting belongs to a series which also includes Bullfight, The Madhouse and A Procession of Flagellants, all reflecting customs which liberals (of whom Goya was then one) objected to and wished were abandoned, but their reform was opposed by the absolutist (autocratic) policy of Ferdinand VII of Spain.

[3] The painting depicts an auto-da-fé (from Portuguese, meaning "act of faith") by a tribunal of the Spanish Inquisition,[1] being held inside a church.

[5] Ringed around the accused are the clerics and Inquisitors and farther back a sea of invited guests fill the church interior, witnessing the drama.

Every figure in the foreground is in the light, individualised and well-characterised, whereas the background is occupied by an anonymous mass of people shut in by darkness and a claustrophobic Gothic architecture.

A Procession of Flagellants, another one of Goya's works in this series, shows the presence of cruelty and the use of symbolism, where blood is seen flowing out onto the white garment of figures.

In Goya's lifetime he would have been quite aware of the history and strong influence that the church held on Spanish society.

Goya sketched, painted and printed many scenes showing the barbarity and cruelty of the Spanish Inquisition and of the turbulent, warring times in which he lived.