The Sacrifice

mixed media
22 x 24 inches canvas  (33 x 34 with wood frame)
POR
Rembrandt painted “The Carcass of Beef” in 1655. He knew the realities of life and did not soft pedal the truth of the Scriptures in his work. His painting inspired a number of artists, among them Delecroix, Daumier, SOutine, and Francis Bacon.
In this tradition, my painting also deals with the reality of sacrifice as an integral part of life. A priest/butcher carriers a side of beef. The sacrificial system that God instituted for his people in the Old Testament prointed to the sacrifice of Christ. It was a bloody covenant that exhibited the seriousness of man’s sin and separation from God. Mankind is doomed to die.
Francis Bacon saw death and slaughter in the World Wars. His response was a pessimistic series Slaughter-House Earth. He observed death but did not acknowledge that God provided an answer to death through the substitutionary death of his Son, Jesus Christ.