Agnus Dei

Zurbarán's Agnus Dei in the Museo del Prado is one of the best-known animal still lifes associated with the painter. It shows a white lamb with curly fleece and tied legs, resting against a dark, plain background with almost no other elements. The record dates it approximately between 1635 and 1640, since it is unsigned and undated, and describes it as a small oil on canvas.

The central question of the painting is its meaning. The title refers to the Latin phrase "Lamb of God", the liturgical name for Christ, yet the canvas lacks the usual signs that would make the religious reading explicit, such as halos or inscriptions. For this reason some specialists have preferred to see a close study from nature, a picture of a bound lamb or sheep valued for its painterly qualities. Others, including the museum's experts, argue that in seventeenth-century Spain the link between the lamb and the sacrifice of Christ was so widespread that viewers would hardly have seen the image without that association. The tension between still life and religious painting is what gives the work much of its interest.

Among the several versions Zurbarán made of the subject, the Madrid example is often regarded as the most accomplished. Its treatment of the wool, with carefully modelled curls built up through precise brushwork, and the simplicity of the composition, which concentrates all attention on the animal, are frequently praised. A sealing wax mark on the back suggests that the painting once belonged to the collection of Ferdinand VII, and it has been on display in the museum's permanent collection since its acquisition in 1986.

Painter

Francisco de Zurbarán

Date

1635

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

37 × 62 cm

Museum

Museo del Prado, Madrid

Genre

animal art, religious art

Depicts

table, lamb

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