Abraham Leading Isaac to Sacrifice – (Domenico Zampieri) Previous Next


Artist:

Date: 1602

Size: 32 x 44 cm

Museum: Kimbell Art Museum (Fort Worth, United States)

Technique: Oil On Copper

Domenichino, who is renowned for his large-scale frescoes, history paintings, and altarpieces, became Italy’s leading classical painter in the first half of the seventeenth century. Trained at the Carracci Academy in his native city of Bologna, he came to Rome in 1602 to work under Annibale Carracci at the Farnese Palace. Abraham Leading Isaac to Sacrifice, which appears in the January 1603 inventory of the collection of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, the powerful nephew of Pope Clement VIII, was inspired by the naturalistic and carefully constructed landscapes of Annibale. Its composition and refined technique also recall the panoramic landscapes of Flemish artists such as Paul Bril, who had settled in Rome a generation earlier, and anticipate the classical landscapes of Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. Domenichino depicts Abraham leading his beloved son Isaac to be sacrificed at God’s command (Genesis 22:1–14)––a subject regarded as a prefiguration of God’s own sacrifice of Christ. Later, when Abraham takes up his sword to kill his son, an angel will stop him, indicating a ram as a substitute.

This artwork is in the public domain.

Artist

Download

Click here to download

Permissions

Free for non commercial use. See below.

Public domain

This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. However - you may not use this image for commercial purposes and you may not alter the image or remove the watermark.

This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.


Note that a few countries have copyright terms longer than 70 years: Mexico has 100 years, Colombia has 80 years, and Guatemala and Samoa have 75 years. This image may not be in the public domain in these countries, which moreover do not implement the rule of the shorter term. Côte d'Ivoire has a general copyright term of 99 years and Honduras has 75 years, but they do implement that rule of the shorter term.