Abraham's Sacrifice,

1655

Rembrandt devoted several of his numerous biblical illustrations to the story of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham, which culminates in the episode in which Abraham, at God’s request, agrees to sacrifice his son Isaac. Moved by Abraham’s faith, God summons an angel for a last-minute intervention. In this dramatically lit etching, Rembrandt humanizes the harrowing event by stressing the physicality of the angel’s restraining grip on Abraham, who still clutches the knife in his left hand while listening to the angel’s command to halt the sacrifice. Rembrandt heightens the scene’s spirituality by including visible beams of heavenly light streaming down diagonally from the upper right corner.