Lamb of God: Francisco de Zurbarán's Agnus Dei

The 17th-century Spanish giant of religious painting, Zurbarán had a knack for evoking spiritual matters with simple images. A still life can suggest the Virgin Mary; a portrait of a kneeling monk, his face dark, communicates the eerie mystery of God. In this painting, he excels himself, seeing in a meticulously depicted spring lamb, its feet trussed for the slaughter, an image of the Passion. A great painting that finds profundity in the everyday world
Illustration: Museo Nacional del Prado