In the story of Hagar an angel twice appears, and one is surprised that these charming subjects have so rarely been
Il Sodoma.—The Sacrifice of Abraham.
painted, while the more disagreeable expulsion of Hagar from the home of her youth has been frequently represented; the picture of this scene by Guercino, in the Brera at Milan, is famous, and certainly tells the story of “Cast out the bondwoman and her son” with directness; but there is an element of vulgarity in it that so detracts from its good qualities as to make one wonder that it could have been so much admired.
A far more tender subject is that which pictures Hagar in the wilderness alone, and repentant of her fault, for which Sarah had chastened her; it is at this moment that the angel appears and commands her return to Abraham. A fine example of this rare subject by Pietro da Cortona is in the Belvedere, at Vienna. Rubens also painted this scene.
A picture that is even more pathetic represents Hagar and Ishmael in the wilderness of Beersheba. Ishmael is fainting from thirst, and Hagar flings herself to the ground with the prayer, “Let me not see the death of the child,” when an angel appears to comfort her, and guide her to a hidden spring. The pathos of this scene must appeal to every mother, and a picture of it by Rembrandt is so fine that one can but regret that it is not in a public collection.
The visit of the three angels to Abraham is also a rare subject in Art. I have already referred to that painted by Raphael, in the Vatican. Murillo also represented it in a picture now in a private gallery in England. In neither of these pictures have the angels wings.