The Scapegoat (by William Holman Hunt) Canvas Print

This design features a painting by the British artist William Holman Hunt (1827–1910). It depicts the "scapegoat" that is described in the Book of Leviticus. On the Day of Atonement, a goat would have its horns wrapped with a red cloth, representing the sins of the community, and be driven off. Following traditional Christian theology, Hunt believed that the scapegoat was a prototype for the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus, and that the goat represented that aspect of the Messiah described in Isaiah as a "suffering servant" of God. The Jewish tradition has long seen the scapegoat as a symbol of forgiveness. Holman Hunt went to the Dead Sea in order to research this painting. The original painting was completed in 1854.