Information

The subject of this illustration is taken from Genesis 22:1-3. This passage recalls the episode in which God orders Abraham to take his son Isaac to Mount Moriah and sacrifice him. Here, Isaac is oblivious to his fate. 'Visualising the contrast between Issac's confidence in his father's love and Abraham's anguish [Solomon's design] shows the father delicately kissing his son's hand while caressing his head' (Simon Cooke, 'Dalziel's Bible Gallery' in 'The Private Library,' vol. 10:2, p. 77). Solomon had used this episode as the subject of three previous compositions: a pen-and-ink drawing (c. 1855, The Jewish Museum, London), an oil painting (exhibited at the RA in 1858) and a watercolour (c. 1858). The drawing, though cruder with far less detail, depicts father and son in a similar manner.

A page from Dalziels' Bible Gallery, illustrations from the old testament from original drawings by various artists including Ford Madox Brown, Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, Frederick Leighton, Frederick Sandys, George Frederick Watts and Simeon Solomon. Commissioned in 1863, the bible was published by George Routledge & Sons, London, 1881.

  • Presented by Wilfred Phillips, 1920.
  • © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association Artist Organisation
Artist Simeon Solomon -
Engraver - Dalziel Brothers
Publisher - George Routledge & Sons

Inscriptions

Type Position(s) Method Date(s) Notes
DALZIEL SS
Signature - Printed 1881 Ink.
 

Literature

Author(s) Date(s) Publisher Pages
Dalziels' Bible Gallery
1881 George Routledge & Sons, London pl. 13
 
Art Pictures from the Old Testament
1894 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London Repr. p. 21
 
The British Pre-Raphaelite Illustrators
Gregory Suriano 2005 Oak Knell Press, Newcastle, USA, and the British Library, London p. 330; repr. p. 233
 
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites
Colin Cruise 2005 Merrell, London and New York Fig.22,p. 69; repr.
 
Orientalism, Assyriology and the Bible
Donato Esposito 2006 Sheffield Phoenix Press, Sheffield p. 286
 
The Private Library
Simon Cooke Summer 2007 - Fifth series, vol. 10:2, p. 77; repr. fig. 8

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