AGNUS DEI (April 6, 2015)
Thus the title of a painting of a trussed lamb bound for slaughter by Francisco de Zurbarán (1598-1664). Painted between 1635 and 1640, it symbolizes Christ. Not surprisingly, the paining is ricocheting through the ether the day after Easter, when lamb is being digested in many a belly across the Christian world. Including my own, I hasten to add. Although this did not even cross Zurbarán’s mind, lamb symbolizes Christ in more ways than one (“Corpus Christi,” May 22, 2008). As witnessed by every mass, cannibalism is at the core of the vaunted religion.