The Ghent Altarpiece

The most famous Agnus Dei sits at the heart of the Ghent Altarpiece (1432), painted by the Van Eyck brothers. On the central panel, a lamb stands on an altar in a green meadow. Blood streams from its chest into a golden chalice — turning the sacrifice into the wine of the Mass — while crowds of saints and angels gather to adore it.

Look closely and the scene is stranger than it first seems. The lamb stands calmly while bleeding, fully aware, not collapsing in pain. The Van Eycks painted it facing straight out at us, meeting the worshippers' eyes. The animal is both the victim being killed and the living, conscious Christ accepting it — two states held in one steady gaze.