Agnus Dei

A single young lamb lies on a plain stone ledge, its four legs tied together, lit hard against a black background. That is the whole painting. Zurbarán made it around 1635, in Seville, at the height of his career, and painted the animal so plainly that you could read it as a straightforward study of a bound merino ready for slaughter. The title tells you the other meaning. Agnus Dei, the Lamb of God, is the name John the Baptist gives Christ in the gospel, the one led quietly to sacrifice. Zurbarán lets both readings stand at once, the real animal and the sign, which is why this small picture keeps turning up in histories of Spanish still life. He painted the subject at least six times for private buyers.