A fair-haired boy lies on the altar cloth.
Bible in art · Genesis
The Sacrifice of Isaac (Ms. 33, fol. 34, from the Weltchronik)
Unknown painter, Regensburg · about 1400–1410
Getty Center, Los Angeles
From the Weltchronik made in Regensburg about 1400–1410. Its pictures run in bands across the leaf, above or between the columns of verse.
Isaac lies bound on a draped altar; Abraham kneels and swings a sword above his head. An angel in the corner catches hold of the blade, and a ram stands among the rocks at the right.
From the text
- Isaac bound and laid on the altar (Genesis 22:9)
- The angel calls from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” (Genesis 22:11)
- A ram caught in a thicket (Genesis 22:13)
The artist’s own
- A sword instead of the knife of the text
- Golden cups set on the altar
- The angel stops the blade with his hand
Details
Isaac
Abraham
Kneeling in a pink robe, he raises the sword.
The angel
He leans from the corner and seizes the blade.
The ram
A pale ram rears among the rocks.
Unknown illuminator, Regensburg; text by Rudolf von Ems (Austrian, about 1200–1254). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Ms. 33 (88.MP.70), fol. 34) · Tempera colors, gold, silver paint, and ink · Images provided here are believed to be in the public domain and are available under CC0 through Getty’s Open Content Program. (Getty record: "No Copyright", http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)