Melchizedek Blessing Abraham (1825): Art, History and Details

Melchizedek Blessing Abraham (1825) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German, 1794–1872).

The work and its context

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

Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld was an important figure within the Romantic movement that spread throughout Germany in the early 1800s. He was a member of the Nazarenes, a loosely formed group of young artists who rejected their conservative training in favor of a restrained style that they hoped would spiritually elevate those who viewed it. Schnorr von Carolsfeld is best known today for the Picture Bible, an expansive series of drawings created as illustrations for episodes from scripture. This drawing presents a scene from the Book of Genesis, evoking a dramatic episode with a restrained style characteristic of the Nazarenes’ work around this time.

Object facts

• Title: Melchizedek Blessing Abraham
• Date: 1825
• Creator attribution: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (German, 1794–1872)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: pen and brown ink mounted on blue laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 21.3 x 25.7 cm (8 3/8 x 10 1/8 in.); Secondary Support: 42.2 x 41.9 cm (16 5/8 x 16 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Drawings
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2025.130

A detail from the museum

The Picture Bible, the series to which this drawing belongs, was originally a group project conceived by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld and the Nazarenes, but he took over execution of the project around 1824.

Collection credit

Alma Kroeger Fund

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.