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The Sacrifice of Isaac
Caravaggio, The Sacrifice of Isaac, c. 1603
- Painter
- Caravaggio
- Collection
- Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence
- Scripture
- Genesis 22:12
- Published
- 4 October 2026
- Image
- Wikimedia Commons, public domain ↗
Caravaggio brings everything close. The angel stands beside Abraham like a neighbour, grips his wrist and points to the ram. Isaac, pressed down onto the stone, screams.
The picture was probably painted for Maffeo Barberini, the later Pope Urban VIII, who made payments to Caravaggio in 1603 and 1604. A landscape in evening light is rare in Caravaggio's work; almost all his other pictures have no background at all.
Isaac's scream and the quiet head of the ram lie side by side. Abraham's thumb presses into his son's cheek.
A hill, a building, the last light: one of the few landscapes Caravaggio ever painted.