''Abraham and Isaac'', also known as the ''Sacrifice of Isaac'' (Italian: ''Sacrificio di Isacco''), is an

oil painting Oil painting is a painting method involving the procedure of painting with pigments combined with a drying oil as the Binder (material), binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on canvas, wood panel, or oil on coppe ...

by the Venetian painter

Titian Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno. Ti ...

. It was made in about 1543–1544 for the church of Santo Spirito, but is now in the basilica of

Santa Maria della Salute Santa Maria della Salute (; ), commonly known simply as La Salute (), is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at the Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy. It stands on the narrow finger of Pun ...

Subject

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

was commanded by God to offer up

Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

as a

human sacrifice Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more humans as part of a ritual, which is usually intended to please or appease deity, gods, a human ruler, public or jurisdictional demands for justice by capital punishment, an authoritative/prie ...

in the land of

Moriah Moriah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , ''Mōrīyya''; Arabic: ﻣﺮﻭﻩ, ''Marwah'') is the name given to a region in the Book of Genesis, where the binding of Isaac by Abraham is said to have taken place. Jews identify the region mentioned in G ...

. Proceeding to obey, he was prevented by an

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

as he was about to sacrifice his son, and slew a ram which he found on the spot. As a reward for his obedience he received another promise of a numerous seed and abundant prosperity.

History

It was about the beginning of the 1540s that Titian received commissions for a great number of pictures from the brothers of the church of Santo Spirito, who possessed the work of his early career, the San Marco Enthroned. One altarpiece represented the ''Descent of the Holy Spirit'', but having been damaged had to be restored later by Titian. The picture on the same subject, which is now in the Church of the Salute, belongs to another period in Titian's activity. The whole collection of art treasures from Santo Spirito was transported to the Church of the Salute in the seventeenth century, where they remain today.Gronau 1904, p. 123.Ricketts 1910, p. 102. In the ceiling of the sacristy of the Salute, above the altar, are three creations of this period (): ''

Cain and Abel In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Ab ...

'', ''Abraham and Isaac'', and ''

David and Goliath Goliath ( ) was a Philistine giant in the Book of Samuel. Descriptions of Goliath's immense stature vary among biblical sources, with texts describing him as either or tall. According to the text, Goliath issued a challenge to the Israelit ...

''.

Analysis

Georg Gronau writes of these three pictures collectively: Tycjan ofiara izaaka

Gallery

References

Sources

* Biadene, Susanna, ed. (1990). "Ceiling of the Church of Santo Spirito in Isola". Translated by Hecker, Sharon; Rylands, Philip; Wilkins, Elizabeth. In ''Titian: Prince of Painters''. Italy: Prestel. pp. 255–58. * Cook, Stanley Arthur (1911). "Abraham". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 69–72. * Gronau, Georg (1904). ''

''. London: Duckworth and Co; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 123–25, 300. * Kahr, Madlyn (1966)
"Titian's Old Testament Cycle"
''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', 29: pp. 193–205. * Ricketts, Charles (1910). ''