As a bonus, for fun, assignment we were asked to find some artistic (any format) depiction of the story of Abraham and the sacrificing of Isaac.
The artist, Domenico Gargiulo, was an Italian painter from the 1600s. He received his training from a battle-painter and his father was a sword maker. This image is obviously not a painting but rather a study or a sketch. It’s this sketchy style that caught my eye. Here we are seeing the point of the story just as the angel interrupts Abraham killing Isaac. There’s no sign of anyone else being around. Knowing that little bit about the artist’s background, it’s not surprising that Abraham looks like a warrior and wielding what looks more like a sword than a large knife. It appears that there is a fire in a container, but Isaac seems to be on some sort of platform or table, not a pile of wood. The ram is behind the backs of both men and probably hasn’t been noticed. The angel is not simply suspended, but swooping down quickly, even holding Abraham’s hand with the sword in it, seemingly coming in for the quick save.
Sketches are by nature, messy, unclear, and lack fine details. Sketches are meant to give rough pictures of an idea. It’s the rough and messy lines that I find appropriate to this story. This story raises a lot of questions me as it did when we discussed it in class. Sketches provide the big picture and in this case the image says that Abraham had no qualms about fulfilling God’s request to sacrifice Isaac; if that angel hadn’t arrived, it would have been over for Isaac. But what is the expression or emotion on Abraham’s face? Is the angel almost inserting themselves between the 2 men? In this depiction, Isaac is not a young child but rather a muscular young man who only has his hands tied behind his back. And yet seems to be going along with the plan. Does he know what his father looks like in this moment?
I couldn’t find a painting that could have been the sequel to this sketch. One may not exist. But maybe I would still prefer the sketch…messy, rough, unfinished, and not a beautiful piece of art, but rather a disturbing one, like the story.
Maybe traditional Bible study would be enhanced if we used visuals, or music as someone else found choral music.
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