Cleveland Museum of Art

The Oath of Abraham’s Servant

Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione

Date

c. 1650–59

Medium

oil on canvas

Culture

Italy, 17th century

Department

European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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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