Abraham lifts one hand with a finger raised; the other rests on his chest.
Bible in art · Genesis
Abraham and Isaac
Rembrandt · 1645
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Rembrandt etched this small plate in Amsterdam in 1645; it is barely 16 cm high. Instead of the knife and the angel on the mountain, he chose a quiet pause on the way, when father and son talk.
Abraham, in a turban and heavy robe, presses one hand to his chest and lifts the other as he answers. Isaac stands with the bundle of wood and looks at him. The lines are freest in the background, where a few strokes stand for trees and rock.
From the text
- Isaac carrying the wood for the offering (Genesis 22:6)
- The fire and the knife that Abraham took (Genesis 22:6)
- Isaac’s question about the lamb, and his father’s answer (Genesis 22:7–8)
The artist’s own
- Abraham as an Eastern elder in a turban, as Rembrandt often dressed figures from the Bible
- Isaac as a boy in a striped, belted tunic
- A pot with a handle — perhaps for carrying the fire
- A wild, sketchy landscape instead of a road
Details
Pointing upward
The wood
Isaac holds a bundle of sticks, tied together, standing it on the ground.
A pot
A pot with a handle stands on the rock — perhaps the vessel for the fire.
At his belt
A long sheath hangs from Abraham’s belt.
Signature
Scratched into the plate: “Rembrandt” and the year 1645.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1963.11.179) · Etching and burin · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)