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Border with Abraham and Isaac

Creator

Flemish Illuminator · 1483–1561

Artist

One of the most celebrated painters of Flanders in the 1500s, Simon Bening was hailed by Portuguese art critic Francisco da Hollanda as the greatest master of illumination in all of Europe. In addition to producing books for powerful aristocrats such as Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Bening worked for a group of international royal patrons including Emperor Charles V and Don Fernando, the Infan

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Date: about 1525–1530
Medium: Tempera colors, gold paint, and gold leaf
Culture: Flemish
Department: Manuscripts
Institution: Getty Museum

Against the backdrop of a beautiful atmospheric landscape, Abraham, a sword tucked under his arm, urges his son Isaac to precede him up the mountain. In order to test Abraham's faith, God had ordered him to sacrifice his only son, an action stopped by an angel at the last moment. Medieval Christians often saw Isaac's sacrifice as an Old Testament prefiguration of the story of Christ, whose journey to Calvary appears in the facing miniature. Simon Bening underlined the parallel by showing Isaac in a position similar to Christ's, carrying on his shoulder the wood that will complete his sacrifice just as Christ carries his cross.

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