Hagar and the Angel

Francesco Maffei

ca. 1657 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Maffei lived and worked in the Italian cities of Vicenza and Padua, but was profoundly influenced by Venetian painting. At its most characteristic, his elegant vision veers into the mannered elongated figure types and loose brushwork seen in this painting above the doorway. This scene from the biblical book of Genesis shows the angel appearing to Hagar, an enslaved woman in Egypt. Banished with her infant Ishmael to the desert by her new husband, Abraham, Hagar was allegedly saved by a heavenly creature who directed her to a spring of water.

Artist

Francesco Maffei

Date

ca. 1657

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Bequest of Anna Mont, in memory of Frederick Mont, 2010