The Sacrifice of Isaac (1750s): Art, History and Details

The Sacrifice of Isaac (1750s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712–1793).

The work and its context

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

This series of paintings primarily tells the Old Testament story of Abraham and Isaac, and each of the canvases depicts the interaction of humans and angels. In three works, angels appear to Abraham, and in one particularly dramatic canvas, an angel intercepts Abraham before he sacrifices his own son. Like another work in this series, Tobias and the Angels, the Sacrifice of Isaac is a narrative about fathers and sons as well as obedience inspired by faith.

Object facts

• Title: The Sacrifice of Isaac
• Date: 1750s
• Creator attribution: Francesco Guardi (Italian, 1712–1793)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 71 x 90.5 x 5.5 cm (27 15/16 x 35 5/8 x 2 3/16 in.); Unframed: 56.5 x 75.5 cm (22 1/4 x 29 3/4 in.)
• Collection: P - Italian 18th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1952.235.1

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Alessandro Brass, letter to Henry S. Francis, March 29, 1952, in CMA curatorial file.
• Alessandro Brass, invoice, July 5, 1952, in CMA curatorial file.
• Morassi, Antonio. Guardi. Antonio e Francesco Guardi. Venezia: Alfieri, 1973.

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.