When I read Gene Veith’s post this morning on the restoration of the “most important painting ever made,” I couldn’t help but think of C.S. Lewis’s description of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.” While the process of bringing the painting back to life is fascinating, even more fascinating is the response of people to the new look of the lamb.
Veith writes:
But much of the general public found the image “shocking” and “alarming.” On social media it was described as “nightmarish.” One tweeter said, “the lamb of the Ghent altarpiece was a mistake and whoever painted over it was right to do so.” An article at LiveScience, entitled Why This 15th-century “Jesus-Lamb” Painting Is Creeping People Out”, warns, “you may have a hard time unseeing it” and describes the Lamb as “weird” and “overly confrontational.”
He continues:
Friends, this is not a painting of the fluffy barnyard animal, as in “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” This is a great artist’s rendition of Jesus Christ. Van Eyck takes a Biblical symbol–one that underscores Christ’s blood sacrifice for our sins–and makes it come alive as simultaneously a lamb and the man Jesus. Who is also simultaneously a man and the true God.
Well said. Again: He isn’t safe. But He’s good. He’s the king.
Read Veith’s entire post here, The Lamb of God with Human Eyes.
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