The Scapegoat 1856

William Holman Hunt created "The Scapegoat" using oil on canvas. Hunt was deeply religious, and this painting reflects his beliefs and his experience in the Middle East. The work depicts a lone goat, stranded on the shores of the Dead Sea. According to the Old Testament, the scapegoat was a goat cast into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the Jewish people. It's impossible to ignore the emotional weight of this image, the isolation and suffering that the goat embodies. Hunt painted the scene with an incredible attention to detail. "Inscape Goat - Ultimatum to the Spectator" said Hunt about the painting. The red band around its horns underscores its status as a sacrificial offering, heightening the sense of melancholy. Hunt's "The Scapegoat" prompts us to reflect on ideas of sacrifice, guilt, and redemption, and the burdens, both personal and societal, that we carry.