The Lamb of God

AGNUS DEI

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” John 1:29

Agnus Dei, Francisco de Zurbaran, c. 1635-1640. Oil on canvas

“A dark background and a gray table are the setting for this painting’s only motive: a merino lamb between eight and twelve months old. Still alive, it lies with bound feet in an unmistakably sacrificial posture…” Of note is “Zurbarán’s peerless capacity to reproduce textures, a very calculated and directed light that creates broad areas of shadow, and a meticulous technique to concentrate the viewer’s attention on a lamb that seems to meekly accept its fatal destiny.”

“This is not Zurbarán’s only painting of this subject. The existence of five other versions by his hand with some iconographic variants indicates that such representations were well accepted, probably by private clients.” Excerpts from the Museo del Prado website.

This painting resides at the San Diego Museum of Art. I will visit later today on the occasion of Good Friday.