Ecce Agnus Dei (c. 1655): Artwork and History

Ecce Agnus Dei (c. 1655) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682).

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

This is one of four large canvases devoted to the life of Saint John the Baptist that Bartolomé Esteban Murillo painted for the convent of San Leandro in his native Seville, Spain. Inscriptions from the gospels of John and Luke float in the sky, accompanied by the eagle and winged bull that, respectively, symbolize these evangelists. John the Baptist’s gesture toward Jesus alludes to the Baptist’s role in preparing the way for Christ. When he painted this series, Murillo was transitioning away from the hard edges and dramatic shading inspired by Francisco de Zurbarán toward softer, more vaporous effects.

Object facts

• Title: Ecce Agnus Dei
• Date: c. 1655
• Artist attribution: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Spanish, 1617–1682)
• Place of origin: Spain
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 270.2 × 184.5 cm (106 3/8 × 72 5/8 in.); Framed: 317 × 232 cm (124 13/16 × 91 3/8 in.)
• Type: Painting
• Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe
• Reference number: 1960.2

Collection credit

Louise B. and Frank H. Woods Purchase Fund

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.