Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Spanish, 1617-1682
Title: The Infant Saint John Playing with a Lamb
Date: 1670-1680
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
61 x 44 cm
Credit Line: Purchased, 1869
Object Number: NGI.33
ProvenanceChoiseul-praslin sale, Paris, 18 February 1793, lot 16; where probably purchased by Prince Alexander Besborodko, Grand Chancellor of the Russian Empire under Catherine II and Paul I; purchased, Doucheleff Besborodko sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 5 June 1869, lot 21
Exhibition HistoryMurillo IV Centenario, Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla, Seville, 28 November 2018 - 17 March 2019
Label TextThe Spanish artist Murillo painted this scene of the infant John the Baptist caressing a lamb. The saint wears a brown skin loin-cloth and a vermilion cloak and holds a bamboo staff in the form of a cross. The lamb is a symbolic representation of Christ in his sacrificial role, as described in the gospel of John: 'the next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world'. The spiritual connection between Saint John and the lamb hints at the future sacrifices both men would endure.