The present painting is a repetition of the work “Hyrden finder Lammet” (The shepherd finds the lamb), which Skovgaard made for the altarpiece in Gørlev Valgmenighedskirke, North Western Sealand, that one exhibited at Den Frie Udstilling 1910 no. 301. The painting depicts The Parable of the Lost Sheep, Matthew 18:12–14: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? (12). And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away" (13).

Skovgaard made several versions of the motif, and there is thus also a version in Vester Church, Give in Jutland.