This week's image of the Good Shepherd from the on-line Sacred Art Pilgrim Collection is the work of Eric Gill, the brilliant, idiosyncratic early 20th century British sculptor, graphic artist, typographer, and essayist, better remembered today for his innovative Gill sans-serif typeface than his eccentric views on the wearing of pants and how to make custard! A dedicated convert to Roman Catholicism and devotee of the Arts and Crafts movement, which emphasized traditional handwork and uncluttered design, Gill was a man on a mission to realize his ideals in his art. He excelled in wood engraving, creating elegantly simple prints on traditional religious themes like his portrait of Christ as the Good Shepherd, seated among his flock with a young ram in his lap, where the stylized forms and linework harken back to medieval and Byzantine sacred art. The inscription in Latin at the bottom of the print quotes the opening line of a passage in the Gospels about the universality of Christ's message: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (John 10: 16, KJV)." (John Kohan)