The Angel Appears To Hagar And Ishmael, flemish school of the 17th century

The Angel Appears to Hagar and Ishmael
Circle of Abraham Govaerts (Antwerp 1589 - 1626)

Oil on panel
33 x 50 cm. - with gilded wooden e sièclee 43 x 61 cm.

The canvas shows a charming wooded landscape that opens up on the left, allowing a glimpse of a small village, which is the setting for the biblical episode of the angel, traditionally the archangel Michael, appearing to Hagar to save the baby Ishmael.

In particular, in the Book of Genesis (16-21), it is narrated that Abraham, driven by the will of his wife Sarah, drives away Hagar, the Egyptian slave girl by whom he had a son named Ishmael.

In the episode illustrated we see Hagar, lost in the desert of Bersheba and desperate for the imminent death of her little son, rescued by the angel who points out to her a spring to which she can take the little one, lying in the vegetation, to quench his thirst.

The panel in question is the work of a Flemish artist active in the circle of Abraham Govaerts (Antwerp 1589-1626), a landscape painter born and active during his career in Antwerp.

As frequently occurs in the history of painting, from the 16th century onwards, biblical narratives set in the open air served as a cue for artists to try their hand at landscape painting. This practice, which often involved the collaboration of two painters, one specialising in landscape painting and the other in outline figures, originated in the Dutch and Flemish countries, and was then passed on in Italy, and especially in Rome, at the beginning of the 17th century.

Govaerts devoted himself to the depiction of lush landscapes, in particular forests with a fantastic character and dense foliage, also showing panoramas in the distance bathed in a delicate light, which were to become a point of reference for an entire generation of artists.

The painting is in an excellent state of preservation, embellished by a beautiful carved and gilded wooden frame.
gilded wood frame.