”DISMISSAL OF HAGAR BY ABRAHAM”. MINIATURE. AFTER VAN RIJN, REMBRANDT (LEINDEN, 1606 – AMSTERDAM, 1669). 18TH CENTURY.

Abraham disowning Hagar. Following the model of VAN RIJN, Rembrandt (Leinden, 1606 – Amsterdam, 1669). Framed miniature. Century XVIII. The scene is set in an idealized landscape. In the foreground, a venerable old man, richly attired (blue tunic, yellow belt and red cloak with ermine, with a colorful turban to match), goes, indicating the act with his hands, towards a woman who covers her face, showing so the artist his sorrow. A child accompanies her, with his back to the viewer, and carries a series of packages and a vase, suggesting a trip. To the left, in some humble architecture, there is an old woman leaning out to see the scene, smiling, while a young boy does the same as her, opening a wooden door from which a small dog runs out. It shows a story from Genesis. The story narrates that Sara accepted that Abraham obtain offspring thanks to an Egyptian slave, Hagar, a union from which Ishmael was born. However, when Sarah had Isaac thanks to a miracle, she convinced Abraham to expel Sarah and her son. The anecdotal detail of presenting Sara leaning out smiling, the dog, Sara's grief, etc. It can also be appreciated in the painting of the same theme by the Flemish Pieter-Jozef Verhaghen (1728-1811), in which Abraham also appears with a red cloak and turban, but the composition and setting differ; in the painting by Jan Victors from around 1635 (Budapest Museum of Fine Arts), with Sara and her son smiling; etc. However, some drawings by Rembrandt are preserved (Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, two by Rembrandt; this institution has another, probably from the 18th century and anonymous but very similar; and there is another by the artist in the Metropolitan Museum) carried out in 1637 by those of the master that follow, almost point by point, the present work except, logically, in the colors and in the background, where the architectures of the baroque master are replaced by a landscape.

· Size: 15,x18,5 / 28x30 cms.