{"product_id":"18th-century-french-school-christ-child-lamb-oil-canvas","title":"18th Century French School Oil Painting, Christ Child with the Lamb, Circa 1720-1750, Religious Old Master on Canvas","description":"\u003ch2\u003eThe Christ Child with the Lamb\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA young child kneels in a shallow landscape, one arm around a lamb that has settled against him, the other hand raised in a small gesture of blessing. It is the Christ Child shown as the Good Shepherd — the lamb doing double duty as companion and as the Agnus Dei, the sacrificial Lamb of God. The painter kept things soft and low-key: rounded flesh, a muted range of browns and dull greens, a sky that barely lifts behind the figure. French School, dated by the gallery to circa 1720-1750, right on the hinge between the late Baroque and the lighter Rococo manner. The canvas has been relined at some point, normal for a work this age, and it carries an old restoration visible in the photos. Unsigned, as these small devotional pictures almost always are.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eFrench Religious Painting in the Early 18th Century\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePictures like this one were made for private devotion, not for the Salon. Workshops across France turned out the Christ Child, the penitent Magdalene, the Virgin and a handful of other subjects for households that wanted an image to pray in front of. That is why so many are anonymous — the point was the picture, not the name attached to it. The Good Shepherd theme in particular had a long life in Catholic France: an easy, tender way to show Christ that reads clearly even at small scale. What you are looking at is a survivor of that tradition, modest in ambition and honest in age, the kind of canvas that once hung in a bedroom or a small oratory.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GalerieClub Fine Art","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57228508397900,"sku":"GC-RELI","price":3600.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1048\/4911\/3420\/files\/18th_century_French_School_oil_painting_of_the_Christ_Child_with_a_lamb_religious_Old_Master_on_canvas.png?v=1783954363","url":"https:\/\/galerieclub.com\/products\/18th-century-french-school-christ-child-lamb-oil-canvas","provider":"GalerieClub Fine Art","version":"1.0","type":"link"}