This votive image was wide-spread in seventeenth-century Spain. It represents an Agnus Dei or “Lamb of God”, in allusion to Christ's sacrificial death to save humanity. The straightforward composition consists exclusively of an image of the young animal with its legs bound, lying on a windowsill and brightly light by a single light source.
Zurbarán made six versions of this subject with small iconographic variations, which indicates that it was relatively successful with his private clients. This is the finest version and it corresponds to his mature period.
This work was acquired by the Spanish State in 1986.
Lamb of God (in Latin, Agnus Dei) (1635–40) is an oil painting by the Spanish Baroque artist Francisco de Zurbarán. It is housed in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain.
The Lamb of God is an allusion to Christ’s title as recorded in John’s Gospel (John 1: 29) when John the Baptist describes Jesus as ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.’
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