Tactile Still Life or Devotional Icon? Zurbarán’s ‘Agnus Dei’ Captivates Seoul Exhibition
Creatrip Team
2 months ago
A small but powerful 17th-century painting by Francisco de Zurbarán, Agnus Dei (c.1635–1640), is drawing attention at the “From Renaissance to Impressionism” show in Seoul. Set against a dark slab, a bound, sacrificial lamb is illuminated with dramatic chiaroscuro, its wool painted so realistically it seems touchable. Zurbarán, often called the “Spanish Caravaggio,” was celebrated for works that blur devotional religious imagery and still life. The San Diego Museum of Art loaned this version—marked with the Latin inscription TANQUAM AGNUS (“like a lamb”) and a subtle halo—to illustrate how the artist fused genres and how such images referenced Biblical comparisons of Jesus as a sacrificial lamb. The work’s intimate scale and solemn mood underline its importance in still-life and devotional painting history.
