Metamorphosis Of Pablo Picasso's Man With A Lamb

Of the various sketches, there were many changes Picasso made to arrive at his final piece. It was not a steady progressive change from beginning to the final form, but rather it was one of constant contemplation and deliberation among the many possibilities. He mostly focused on changing three parts of the work: the head of the man, the size of the animal and lastly, the attitude and position of the animal. Picasso’s concerns with the face of the man was shown through his many sketches of it. The sketches start off with a youthful face with no beard but later transitions into still a youthful look but with an unkempt beard. In the statue itself, the youthful type has disappeared and the maturity has clearly developed and is shown as older but combined with the ragged but beardless images of the beginning. There is also a constant change in the size of the animal which affects the specific balance of the work. Picasso starts off with a younger and smaller animal and increases the size to the final size into the work. There is a definite

Even though the Good Shepherd carries the lamb draped over his shoulders instead of in front of him, as in the Picasso, the similarity of subjects is evident. The Man with a Lamb has a context of sacrifice and suffering that takes on a heightened significance as it was created during the anguished years of the Second World War when everyone realized how near death and ruin was. Likely, the Good Shepherd has been referred to Jesus Christ in the bible, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (NIV, John 10:11). Jesus was sacrificial for the sake of his people. This connection establishes the original idea of the subject which is of a man carrying an animal for a sacrificial offering to the deity and the lamb is there to be sacrificed for the sake of