Guercino, 'The Angel appears to Hagar and Ishmael', 1652-3

The Angel appears to Hagar and Ishmael

Guercino

Not on display

About the work

Overview

The story of Hagar and Ishmael is told in the Old Testament Book of Genesis. Unable to have a child with his wife, Sara, Abraham has a son called Ishmael by her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar. When the aged Sara miraculously conceives and gives birth to Isaac, she demands that Hagar and Ishmael are banished to the wilderness, where they are left to die.

In this painting, Hagar turns from her son so she does not have to watch him die. As she weeps, an angel appears to her and reveals a water source nearby – visible in the bottom left corner of the painting – saving their lives. Hagar’s anguish is the focus of the painting. She is seated in the centre of the composition, poised and dignified, and her gleaming tears convey her intense sorrow.

Probably painted in the second half of 1652, this picture is an example of Guercino’s late classicising style, greatly influenced by Guido Reni.

In-depth

The story of Hagar and Ishmael is told in the Old Testament (Genesis 16 and 21). Although promised by God that he would have as many descendants as there are stars, Abraham was unable to have a child with his wife, Sara. She presented her Egyptian maidservant Hagar to her husband, who bore Abraham a son, Ishmael. Years later, the aged Sara miraculously conceived and gave birth to a son, Isaac. She then convinced her husband to banish Hagar and Ishmael to the wilderness, where their supplies ran out and they were left to die.

In this painting, Guercino shows the exiled pair on the brink of starvation, Hagar turning away from her son so she does not have to watch him die. As she weeps, an angel appears to show her a nearby water source – visible in the bottom left corner of the painting – thus saving their lives. Hagar’s anguish is the main focus of this painting as she sits, poised and dignified, in the centre of the composition. Her gleaming tears convey her intense sorrow, as Guercino presents us with a compassionate portrayal of human grief. An empty vessel lies on the ground near Hagar, a reference to her hardship in the desert.

We witness the moment Hagar has just opened her eyes and is about to be delivered from her terrible fate. She has turned to look at the angel who emerges from the clouds above her, gesturing towards the flowing water lower left. Behind Hagar, on the right, is Ishmael, who has been laid to rest by his mother under some ‘shrubs’ (represented by Guercino as a tree). Ishmael (and the landscape behind him) is painted more sketchily and appears slightly out of focus. His presence serves to remind us of the narrative while not distracting us from Hagar.

Guercino demonstrates his skill in modelling the human figure by suggesting Hagar’s form beneath her maidservant’s dress. He has carefully articulated the folds and fall of the different fabrics, giving Hagar a sense of presence and solidity. The texture of her loose, billowing sleeves contrasts with her laced apron, tied around her waist with a length of green cloth. Above her, the angel’s cloak twists around his shoulders and flutters out dramatically behind him, like that of the putto in Guercino’s earlier Cumaean Sibyl with a Putto. The warm colours of Hagar’s clothes contrast with the cool blue drapery of the angel as he points towards the water.

Probably commissioned in the second half of 1652, this picture is an example of Guercino’s late classicising style. The painting is listed in the artist’s Libro dei Conti, a meticulous account book kept by Guercino between 1629 and 1666 that records details of commissions, prices for paintings, and their dates. This reveals that the work was paid for in March 1653 by Pandolfo Savini of Siena. Guercino’s late style was greatly influenced by the monumental classicism of Guido Reni who, like Guercino, was active in Bologna until his death in 1642.

Sir Denis Mahon, who amassed the largest private collection of Italian Baroque paintings in the world, purchased this painting in 1948. Mahon made significant contributions to the study of seventeenth-century Italian painting and was a particularly great admirer of Guercino.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Angel appears to Hagar and Ishmael
Artist: Guercino
Artist dates: 1591 - 1666
Date made: 1652-3
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 193 × 229 cm
Acquisition credit: Presented by the Trustees of Sir Denis Mahon's Charitable Trust through the Art Fund, 2013
Inventory number: NG6623
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection

Provenance

Commissioned by Pandolfo Saccini of Siena in 1652; in the collection of Adriano Salimbene in Siena by 1714; acquired in 1751 by Sir Horace Mann, the British diplomatic representative in Florence, on behalf of the 2nd Marquess of Rockingham; at his death in 1782 the picture passed to his sister, Lady Anne Watson-Wentworth, wife of the 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam. It remained in the Fitzwilliam collection until 1948 when acquired by Sir Denis Mahon; lent for the exhibition Guercino in Britain, The National Gallery, London, 1991; on loan since 1992; presented by the Trustees of Sir Denis Mahon’s Charitable Trust through the Art Fund, 2013.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Gabriele Finaldi and Michael Kitson, ‘Discovering the Italian Baroque: The Denis Mahon Collection’ (exh. cat. National Gallery, London, 1997), London 1997 and supplemented by the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2012 – March 2013’; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1678

C.C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice: Vite de' pittori bolognesi, Bologna 1678
1758

C.-N. Cochin, II, Voyage d'italie, Paris 1758
1802

R.R. Warner (ed.), A Tour through the Northern Counties of England, London 1802
1865

J.C. Robinson, Catalogue of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Robert Napier of West Shandon, Dumbartonshire, London 1865
1937

H. Walpole, Horace Walpole Correspondence, ed. W.S. Lewis, 48 vols, New Haven 1937
1953

G. Briganti, 'The Mahon Collection of Seicento Paintings', The Connoisseur, CXXXII, 1953, pp. 4-18
1958

F.M. Godfrey, A Student's Guide to Later Italian Painting, 1500-1800, London 1958
1968

D. Mahon, Il Guercino: Catalogo critico dei dipinti (exh. cat. Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, 1 September - 18 November 1968), Bologna 1968
1969

D. Mahon, Il Guercino: Catalogo critico dei disegni (exh. cat. Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, 1 September - 18 November 1968), Bologna 1969
1984

G. Feigenbaum, Lodovico Carracci: A Study of His Later Career and a Catalogue, n.p. 1984
1988

L. Salerno, I dipinti del Guercino, Rome 1988
1991

D.M. Stone, Guercino: Catalogo completo dei dipinti, Florence 1991
1991

M. Helston et al., Guercino in Britain: Paintings from British Collections (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 28 June - 31 July 1991), London 1991
1991

D. Mahon, Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, Il Guercino, 1591-1666 (exh. cat. Museo civico archeologico, 6 July - 10 November 1991; Schirn Kunsthalle, 2 December 1991 - 9 February 1992; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 March - 17 May 1992), Bologna 1991
1991

N. Turner and C. Plazzotta, Drawings by Guercino from British Collections, (exh. cat. British Museum, 17 May - 18 August 1991), London 1991
1992

D. Mahon, Guercino: Master Painter of the Baroque (exh. cat. Pinacoteca Nazionale, 6 July - 10 November 1991; Schirn Kunsthalle, 2 December 1991 - 9 February 1992; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 15 March - 17 May 1992), Washington 1992
1997

G. Finaldi et al., Discovering the Baroque: The Denis Mahon Collection (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 26 February - 18 May 1997), London 1997
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

A. Brogi, Ludovico Carracci (1555-1619), Bologna 2001
2004

D. Mahon et al., Guercino: Poesia e sentimento nella pittura del'600 (exh. cat. Palazzo Reale (Milan), 27 September 2003 - 18 January 2004), Milan 2004
2005

M. Pulini et al., Nel Segno di Guercino: Guercino as Master Draughtsman: Drawings from the Mahon Collection (exh. cat. Pinacoteca Civica, 28 May - 31 July 2005; Ashmolean Museum, 2 November 2005 - 16 January 2006), London 2005
2014

National Gallery, The National Gallery: Review of the Year, April 2012 - March 2013, London 2014

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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Not on display

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Guercino, 'The Angel appears to Hagar and Ishmael', 1652-3

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

More works by Guercino