Abraham Going to Sacrifice Isaac (1517–19): Art, History and Details

Abraham Going to Sacrifice Isaac (1517–19) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Abraham Going to Sacrifice Isaac was the culmination of Van Leyden's achievement in woodcut. He harmoniously balanced relatively straight, short, uniform hatching strokes, creating areas of tone, with vigorous, yet restrained lines for contours and descriptive detail. Spatial clarity and pictorial richness emphasize the artist's poignant approach to the subject. Because many believe Isaac's carrying of the wood to his own sacrifice prefigures Christ's bearing of the cross to Calvary, the actual journey of Abraham and Isaac becomes as significant a subject as the moment when Abraham prepares to sacrifice his son.

Object facts

• Title: Abraham Going to Sacrifice Isaac
• Date: 1517–19
• Creator attribution: Lucas van Leyden (Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533)
• Culture: Netherlands, 16th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: woodcut
• Collection: PR - Woodcut
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1969.233

Collection credit

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.