Lamb of God
This painting of the Lamb of God (‘Agnus Dei’) is part of a special exhibition of works by the Spanish baroque painter Zurbaran, opening at the National Gallery this weekend.
Zurbaran is sometimes called the ‘Spanish Caravaggio’, because off the way he managed to paint light in his paintings and the way he highlights so realistically certain aspects of the bodies of his subjects. There are a number of paintings of the crucifixion of Jesus in this exhibition.
In some ways the painting of this sacrificial lamb is also an aspect of Christ’s dying, as the sacrificial lamb for our sins. Perhaps this is his most emotive crucifixion of them all. The lamb is trussed for slaughter, the fleece is so real you can almost feel it.
The lamb’s eyes, resigned and yet so completely alive, give us a real experience of the horror of the situation.
We sing the ‘Agnus Dei’ as part of our worship, perhaps sometimes we forget that the suffering of Christ is meant to inspire us to end the suffering of this world.
Bernhard Schunemann
3 May 2026
