Cleveland Museum of Art
The Oath of Abraham’s Servant
Giovanni Benedetto CastiglioneLinkedCulture matchlcp-563cbc78d5bc
- Date
- c. 1650–59
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Culture
- Italy, 17th century
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 144255
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
This work has long been called Journey of a Patriarch in the belief that the artist intended no specific subject. The painting instead depicts a moment in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Abraham secures a pledge from his servant to find a wife for Abraham’s son Isaac. The servant wears a zamt , a goatskin cap common in North Africa in the 1600s, here dyed an unusual shade of blue, a color associated with faith and trust, symbolizing his sacred oath. The musical instrument at the left symbolizes love, foreshadowing the wedding the servant pledges to facilitate.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Provenance
- 1969: [Pinakos, New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
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