Akeidat Yitzchak in Art/0/en

Akeidat Yitzchak in Art

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Overview

It is not surprising that Akeidat Yitzchak, a story replete with both religious significance and emotional turmoil is a favorite subject among artists.  The three renderings shown here, the oil painting by Caravaggio,¹ the mosaic from the Beit Alfa Synagogue² and the work by Paolo Veronese³ all depict the climax of the story, when Avraham's sacrifice is interrupted by the angel.  The paintings evoke very different emotions in the viewer as the artists differ greatly in their portrayals of each of the main characters, including Avraham, Yitzchak, the angel and ram.

Contrasting Images

Caravaggio

Carravagio's painting is the most graphic of the three, filled with both pathos and horror.  The thee protagonists totally fill the canvas. Avraham stands in the center, one hand grasping the knife, the other holding a clearly terrified Yitzchak by the neck.  A very human looking angel grabs onto Avraham's arm as if to restrain him, perhaps frightened that otherwise he will carry through with the deed.  Only the head of the ram makes its way into the painting. It waits by Yitzchak but his gaze is intent on Avraham.

Beit Alfa Mosaic

The Beit Alfa Mosaic is devoid of all emotion, belying the complexity of the narrative it tells.  It relays the three scenes of the story linearly, but out of chronological order. On the viewer's left the two servants hold onto the donkey.  On the right, Avraham raises a small Yitzchak onto the altar, while the arm of an angel stretches outward, the words "אל תשלח" etched underneath.  The ram is given center stage as it hangs from a tree by a rope.

Veronese

In contrast to the other artists, Veronese chooses to place the altar, here depicted as part of bigger sanctuary, at the center of his piece.  To the right, an adult Yitzchak kneels with his arms crossed, almost as if he is about to bow in prayer.  Avraham holds on to his head, but looks upward towards the angel who grabs the knife from his hand. In the foreground the ram is depicted peeking out through the shrubbery.  On the other side of the shrine, there is but one figure  depicted.  A man stands with his donkey, facing away from the scene, apparently unaware of the drama happening just a few feet away.

Relationship to the Biblical Text

The artists' choices reflect certain ambiguities in the Biblical text and different possible interpretive stances:

Yitzchak's Age

While the mosaic depicts Yitzchak as a young child, Caravaggio renders him as a teenager, and Veronese portrays him as a young adult.  Which is closer to the Biblical text? The episode is not dated making it impossible to know with certainty.  The opening of the chapter, "וַיְהִי אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה" might connect it to the previous one in which Yitzchak is born and weaned, setting Yitzchak as little more than a toddler.  Others,⁴ however, prefer to connect the story to that which follows, the death of Sarah, making Yitzchak thirty seven.  Ibn EzraBereshit First Commentary 22:6About R. Avraham ibn Ezra takes a middle position, suggesting that he was a teenager.⁵  The ramifications of the different suggestions are significant.  Was Yitzchak an active partner in the test?  How aware was he of what was taking place?  Could he resist?

Witnesses to the Event

While there are no bystanders present in Caravaggio's rendering of the episode, Veronese paints a man standing with a donkey in the foreground of his work.  Presumably, he is meant to be one of the two servants who accompanied Avraham and Yitzchak.  According to the Biblical text, however, these youths did not follow Avraham all the way to the site of the sacrifice.  The choice to nonetheless include him raises an interesting question regarding the story: Were there any witnesses to the event? This relates to the larger question of the purpose of the whole trial: was it intended for Avraham alone, or did it contain a message for the outside world as well?  See Purpose of Akeidat Yitzchak for more.

The Altar

The altar in the Beit Alfa mosaic is a fairly simple structure, sharply contrasting with the shrine painted by Veronese. The latter suggests that the site of the sacrifice had previous religious significance, and perhaps had served others as a house of worship. Is this true of Mt. Moriah?  Was there a history of sacrificial worship at the site, and perhaps even an entire sanctuary? Rambam, following Chazal, suggests that the altar "built" by Avraham was the same one used before by Adam, Kayin and Hevel, and Noach.  The site had holiness from the very beginning of creation, and was later to continue that tradition when the Mikdash was built on the very same spot. See Choice of Yerushalayim for how this suggestion plays into different understandings of why Yerushalayim was chosen as David's capital city.

Yitzchak: A Willing Participant?

While Veronese sets Yitzchak in a submissive pose, almost as if he were in the midst of prayer, Caravaggio's Yitzchak is a mask of horror.  What was Yitzchak feeling throughout the episode? Was he a willing sacrifice, viewing the act as the ultimate show of devotion, or was he acted upon against his will?  How did he relate to Avraham when he realized that he was the one his father intended to slaughter?  

The Binding of Isaac?

Though the story is often referred to as the "Binding of Isaac" none of these artists choose to portray Yitzchak as being bound at all. The omission makes one question what about the binding was deemed as so crucial to the story that it is always called "the akeidah".  Interestingly, the verb עקד only appears once in Tanakh,⁶ making the very definition of the word questionable!

"וְהִנֵּה אַיִל אַחַר נֶאֱחַז בַּסְּבַךְ"

While Veronese depicts the ram as hiding in the bramble, the mosaic has him tied to a tree, standing on his hind legs. Is there any support for this latter portrayal? Interestingly, in Akkadian "איל אחר" means a ram which is standing on it hind legs fitting the image exactly. More likely, though, the mosaic's depiction is influenced by Christian portrayals in which the ram is meant to stand in for Jesus on the cross.  It is therefore highlighted in the middle of the image, and depicted as hanging down from a straight tree (the cross) rather than being caught in the shrubs.

¹ Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 – 1610) was an Italian artist known for his dramatic use of lighting (chiaroscuro).  He had a major influence on other Baroque painters.  The painting is currently housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

² Beit Alfa is a sixth-century synagogue located near Beit She'an in Israel. Its mosaic of the akeidah is the earliest representation of the subject found in Israel. One of the Greek inscriptions in the synagogue names Marianos and his son Chanina as the artists.  The mosaic contains Jewish, pagan, and Christian influences.

³ Paolo Veronese, or, Paolo Caliari (1528–1588), was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period, known for his use of color and brushwork.  The painting is found in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Austria.

⁴ See Seder Olam Rabbah.

⁵ He rejects the toddler position due to the fact that Yitzchak carries the wood for the sacrifice, and opposes the adult position since if Yitzchak had been a knowing sacrifice, he should have been the one rewarded rather than Avraham.

⁶ The adjective "עֲקֻדִּים", on the other hand, comes up several times in Bereshit 30-31, always in relationship to sheep, and has been understood to refer some sort of striped marking.