"Sacrifice of Isaac"

Caravaggio chooses to humanise the figure of the angel by placing it alongside Abraham: a solid presence that grasps the old man's wrist with a strong, tight grip. In the background unfolds a wide, Mediterranean hilly landscape, animated by cottages and a village. The critics recognized in this landscape the stylistic echoes of Caravaggio's training in Lombardy and Veneto. In the past this work was the object of a symbolic interpretation, according to which the building on the hill would be a church with a baptistery, thus a reference to the future birth of the Catholic Church; and the light diffused over the landscape would symbolize the light of divine grace. The sacrifice of the young Isaac would thus foreshadow the sacrifice of Christ. The biblical theme was certainly indicated by the man who committed the work, Maffeo Barberini, who was an influential Vatican Monsignor at the time of the execution of the painting, and would become Pope under the name of Urban VIII. Caravaggio's authorship of this painting, which was recognized by all critics long time ago, is also evidenced by the payments made by Maffeo Barberini to the painter himself.