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Christ as the Good Shepherd

Anonymous1505

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Rotterdam, Netherlands

Eleven figures, divided into two groups, take in almost the whole surface of the image. The most prominently featured on the front are on the left Christ and John the Baptist and David and Moses on the right.
Christ holds the Lamb that symbolizes him. The lamb also refers to the meaning of Christ as the Good Shepherd who watches over his flock.
The lamb is also the attribute of John the Baptist, whose camel-hair rug under his red cloak is visible.
On the right are Moses characterized by the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments, and David wearing a crown and playing on a harp, his attribute.
The significance of the background figures, is unclear. The men behind Christ might be apostles, the figures behind Moses and David heroes from the Old Testament. However, it is impossible to identify them. The praying man on the far right could be the mandator.
The iconography of the painting is extremely rare. John, the forerunner (prodomos) of Christ, is placed together with the Savior across to David, the prototype and ancestor of Christ and Moses, a foreshadowing of Christ. The painting connects the Old and New Covenant, in which Christ, in whom the prophecy of the Old Testament is fulfilled, is the central figure.

Details

  • Title: Christ as the Good Shepherd
  • Creator: Anonymous
  • Date Created: 1505
  • Physical Dimensions: 25,4 x 44,2 cm
  • Artist Information: School of Cornelis Engelbrechtsz, Leiden 1468 - Leiden 1527
  • Medium: oil on wood (oak)

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