Madrid School; XVII century.

Madrid School; XVII century.
"The Sacrifice of Isaac".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It presents restorations on the pictorial surface.
It has a restored 17th century frame.
Measurements: 119 x 181 cm; 130 x 191 cm (frame).
In this canvas the artist presents us the theme of the sacrifice of Isaac through a calm language, not especially dramatic, with clear references to antiquity in the models and a perfectly calculated and balanced composition, at the same time perfectly understandable and narrative. The scene relates the moment described in the Old Testament in which Abraham, following God's orders, prepares to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice. God, seeing that Abraham follows his command with blind faith, sees his faithfulness tested and sends an angel to save Isaac at the last moment, ordering that a lamb be offered in his place. This scene illustrates the theological concept that tells us that divine mercy rewards those who have faith, and in it we see Abraham's unquestioning acceptance of the divine message, as well as an absolute meekness in Isaac. Despite the general classicism that dominates the representation of this work, the figures show a typically baroque dynamism and gestures, which speak to us of a taste for the theatrical and scenographic. In this sense, Abraham and the angel stand out especially, the latter captured in a magnificently resolved foreshortening. The figure of Isaac also shows a remarkable mastery of anatomy.
The author presents the main scene in the foreground, but not in the center of the composition as usual. In this way he develops a profuse landscape that defines the image competing in prominence with the main subject of the painting. The work follows an aesthetic that became widely popular during the seventeenth century, starting in the Flemish environment, within the genre of landscape painting, a new formula recreated by a large group of artists and workshops, which influenced Spanish painting.