Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei
Artist: Francisco de Zurbaran
Oil painting on canvas; Size: 38x62cm Prado, Madrid.

The Agnes Dei is an extremely rare iconographic subject in religious painting. but one of the most pregnant symbols of Christianity. So it is no wonder that it appears in Zurbaran's painting, where religiosity assumes such a high intensity. Once again the painter interprets the theme in an essential manner. making the animal stand out from the darkness with great plastic emphasis and eliminating any other element.
The Agnes Dei is a symbol that links the Old and New Testament. In their epistles Peter and Paul compare the death of Christ with the sacrifice of the lamb at Passover. John, speaking of the Son as the Lamb of God, harks back to the prophesy of Isaiah, who said: "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth."