Image Details

Erich Lessing

The Hand of God (upper right) stays the hand of Abraham in a monochrome painting by Andrea Mantegna (1431–1506), a Northern Italian Renaissance artist whose work often imitates sculpture. The offering of Isaac, known in Jewish tradition as the Akedah, or the Binding of Isaac, is usually thought of as a test by God of Abraham. In the accompanying article, Lippman Bodoff suggests that Abraham was also testing God.