3-098-324 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Sacrifice of the loaves and the lamb, 1668. Biblical scene: The Passover sacrifice, book of Exodus. Each family was to take a one year old unblemished lamb, set it aside and guard it for four days. At twilight on the fourteenth day of that month, the Israelites were commanded to slaughter the lambs at twilight. The lamb was roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It had to be consumed that night with nothing left over. If there were any leftovers it was to be burned. One of a series of canvases depicting episodes from the Old Testament, painted by Escalante between 1667 and 1668 for the sacristy of the Merced Calzada in Madrid.