A Girl with a Lamb
- Artist: Jean-Baptiste Greuze
- Date: before 1775
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The National Gallery
- Collection record: The National Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is "A Girl with a Lamb" by Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Painted in the late 18th century, this oil on canvas work captures a sense of intimacy and quiet emotion. The girl's loose-fitting white chemise has slipped off her shoulder, while she tenderly holds a lamb in her arms.
The lamb itself is likely a symbol of innocence, patience, gentleness, and humility - qualities that the girl also appears to embody with her seemingly innocent gaze. However, there's a subtle suggestion of knowing sensuality in the way she looks at us, and in her bare shoulder and provocatively parted lips.
This painting was part of Greuze's popular single-figure genre works, which were highly sought-after for their emotional resonance and moralistic overtones. They relate to the 18th-century cult of 'sensibility', fostered by thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The unfinished state of this painting only adds to its sense of vulnerability and humanity.
Greuze's use of a plain background allows the girl and lamb to take centre stage, creating a sense of immediacy and closeness. The worn varnish on the surface has discoloured over time, but it still conveys a powerful emotional charge that draws us in.
See it in person
A Girl with a Lamb hangs in The National Gallery on Trafalgar Square, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
