The Lamb of God

The Lamb of God | 60”x 40” | Oil on Canvas 

In early 2018, just weeks apart, I came into contact with two men who had the looks that might work as the model I desired for this painting. Each agreed to come to my studio for photo shoots. After the two shoots several months went by as I regularly reviewed their images and sought the opinions of others. Each was moving in their own way, but I just could not bring myself to pick one. Finally in December I got the idea to combine these men into one image, to use one man’s hair and the other man’s face. I would also find images of Jewish men on line as reference to draw alterations so he would look more Jewish. This seemed right, so I went to work on a Thursday afternoon, by the following Wednesday the painting was complete.

Although the painting time was astonishingly fast, just 6 days, several times (to control emotions) I had to mentally force myself to ignore my peripheral awareness of the completed eyes and focus strictly on applying paint to the canvas.

The name of the painting The Lamb of God was inspired by an address given by Elder Jeffery R Holland of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Following are excerpts from his address:
 
“Looking up from water’s edge, past the eager crowds seeking baptism at his hand, John, called the Baptist, saw in the distance his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, striding resolutely toward him to make a request for that same ordinance. Reverently, but audible enough for those nearby to hear, John uttered the admiration that still moves us two millennia later: “Behold the Lamb of God.”

It is instructive that this long-prophesied forerunner to Jesus did not call Him “Jehovah” or “Savior” or “Redeemer” or even “the Son of God”–all of which were applicable titles.
No, John chose the earliest and perhaps most commonly recognized image in the religious tradition of his people. He used the figure of a sacrificial lamb offered in atonement for the sins and sorrows of a fallen world and all the fallen people in it.

After expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve faced a devastating future, Having opened the door to mortality and temporal life for us, they had closed the door to immortality and eternal life for themselves. Due to a transgression they had consciously chosen to make in our behalf, they now faced physical death and spiritual banishment, separation from the presence of God forever. What were they to do? Would there be a way out of this plight? We are not certain just how much these two were allowed to remember of the instruction they received while still in the garden, but they did remember they were to
regularly offer for a sacrifice unto God a pure, unblemished lamb, the first male born of their flock.

Later an angel came to explain that this sacrifice was a type, a prefiguration of the offering that would be made in their behalf by the Savior of the world who was to came. “This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father,” the angel said. “Wherefore, ... thou shalt repent and call upon God in the name of the Son forevermore.”
Fortunately, there was going to be a way out and a way up.
...God had promised ... that help would come from His pure, unblemished Firstborn Son, the Lamb of
God ...”

My overall goal has been to paint an image which could spark for people the beginnings of faith, or, the strengthening of faith in Christ. I am pleased with the painting, and hope it reaches this goal in bringing people’s hearts more fully to their Savior, for their everlasting happiness.
 
"You should have the Art you Love."