Image Details

Twenty years and a lifetime of sorrows separate two depictions by Rembrandt van Rijn (1609–1669) of the Akedah, the Hebrew term for the attempted sacrifice of Isaac. The etching above, done in 1655, betrays signs of the tragedies that Rembrandt had endured. The Abraham of this etching, his eyes darkened sockets, seems sapped of strength. A basin lies at his feet, ready to collect what would be Isaac’s spurting blood; happily, the angel’s smothering intervention leaves the basin unsoiled. Highlighting the angel’s grasp of Abraham’s knife-wielding arm is a ray of light from the upper right corner.