Resting Under the Olive, Good Shepherd Art Print

What is painted

A wide olive tree with a twisted, silvery trunk spreads its branches across the top of the picture. In its shade Jesus sits on a flat rock, seen from behind and a little to the side, in a cream robe with a rust mantle draped across his back. Curled in the grass beside his sandals, a white lamb sleeps with its head down.

He is looking out over a green valley toward a village on the next hill, with dark cypresses standing like exclamation marks and blue mountains beyond. A low dry-stone wall and a clay jar complete the scene on the right. It is painted in a warm, soft style, olive and sand and sky blue, fading at the edges into white. The print carries no words at all.

A picture of rest

The Gospels show Jesus as someone who withdrew to quiet places: to pray on a mountain, to cross the lake away from the crowds, to sit by a well in the heat of the day when he was tired from the journey, as John 4 puts it. This image belongs to that side of him.

It also recalls one of his best-known invitations, in Matthew 11: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The lamb asleep at his feet has taken him at his word. Psalm 23 says the same thing in shepherd language, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”, and in John 10 Jesus calls himself the good shepherd.

Olive trees grew everywhere in the hills of Galilee and Judea, and the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem, was one of the places where Jesus often went with his disciples.

For a quiet corner or a sympathy gift

This is the kind of Christian wall art that calms a room: over a reading chair, in a bedroom, in a counseling office or a pastor's study. With its golden light and natural colors it sits well beside wood furniture and plants.

People choose it as a sympathy gift after a loss, especially for someone who needs permission to rest, and as a baptism gift, where the sleeping lamb speaks for itself. This Christian poster is printed to order in the US on heavy archival matte paper, with a margin of paper around the image, and ships unframed with free US shipping.