The Scapegoat Being Sent out into the Wilderness Where Five Wild Beasts Are Waiting to Devour It, and Secondly the Sacrifice of an Ox c. 15th century

Curator: What a strangely unsettling image this is! Editor: Indeed. We're looking at a piece called "The Scapegoat Being Sent out into the Wilderness Where Five Wild Beasts Are Waiting to Devour It, and Secondly the Sacrifice of an Ox" by Michel Wolgemuth, currently held at the Harvard Art Museums. It depicts exactly what the title suggests. Curator: The composition is so bizarre—a chaotic jumble of figures, animals, and oddly gentle scenery, all rendered in stark black lines. Editor: Well, the composition speaks to the ritualistic nature of the scapegoat tradition. It was a symbolic act, a transfer of sins onto an animal, liberating the community. Curator: Liberating, but with such brutality in mind? Those beasts lurking in the background are really something. It's like a fever dream captured in ink. Editor: It certainly makes you consider the role of sacrifice in society, doesn't it? A potent, if unsettling, image to ponder. Curator: Absolutely. A raw, uncomfortable reminder of humanity's darker impulses.