The Sacrifice of Isaac (c. 1527): Art, History and Details

The Sacrifice of Isaac (c. 1527) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Andrea del Sarto (Italian, 1486–1530).

The work and its context

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

In this dramatic test of faith from the Old Testament book of Genesis, Abraham agrees to slay his son Isaac on God’s command. As Abraham raises the knife, an angel suddenly appears to halt the sacrifice. This work gains its power from the complex expressions of father and son, combining grief, strength, resignation, fear, and realization in their faces and bodies, the latter inspired by ancient sculpture and Michelangelo. Andrea del Sarto never finished this painting, and it lays bare his working methods. He transferred the design to the panel from a drawing, reinforcing the chalk with painted lines—best seen in the donkey at the far right. He then worked over the whole panel at once with thin, brushy veils of color, letting him alter the composition while painting—especially evident in the angel, Isaac’s body, and Abraham’s head.

Object facts

• Title: The Sacrifice of Isaac
• Date: c. 1527
• Creator attribution: Andrea del Sarto (Italian, 1486–1530)
• Culture: Italy, Florence
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on wood
• Dimensions: Framed: 208 x 171 x 12.5 cm (81 7/8 x 67 5/16 x 4 15/16 in.); Unframed: 178 x 138 cm (70 1/16 x 54 5/16 in.)
• Collection: P - Italian 16th & 17th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1937.577

A detail from the museum

The angel has two visible sets of legs, showing the artist’s revision of the composition.

Collection credit

Delia E. Holden and L. E. Holden Funds

Further reading listed by the museum

• Biadi, Luigi. Notizie inedite della vita dA̕ndrea del Sarto, raccolte da manoscritti. Firenze, Italy: Tip. Bonducciana, 1831.
• Reumont, Alfred von. Andrea del Sarto. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1835.
• Venturi, Adolfo. La R. Galleria Estense in Modena. Modena: P. Toschi, 1882.

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.