Abraham and Isaac

Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Among Rembrandt's most moving prints, this etching depicts the story of Abraham, who, as a test of his faith, was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. As is typical of the artist's work of the 1640s, Rembrandt chose to illustrate the most emotionally poignant moment of the story: Isaac, unwittingly the intended sacrifice, asks his father, "Where is the lamb for the offering?" Abraham responds that God will provide one. Rembrandt arranged the composition around the pivotal gesture of the father, who points to God with his upraised finger. Like a storm cloud, lines swirl in the background behind Isaac, while the area behind his father is blank, modulated only by a thin film of ink.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art