Lombard School, Second half of the 19th century Hagar and Ishmael Oil on canvas Hayez

Lombard School, Second half of the 19th century

Hagar and Ishmael

Oil on canvas, 92 x 74 cm – Antique frame 125 x 108 cm

The canvas examined shows a clear adherence to the principles of historical classicism and 1791th-century academic art, with a balanced composition and detailed attention to anatomical rendering and drapery. The use of color, the desert landscape and the soft lighting refer to the Lombard pictorial tradition and the interpretations that Francesco Hayez (1882 – XNUMX) provided. Hayez's painting was in fact particularly emblematic. Approaching the biblical, mythological and historical repertoire, Hayez's style was very close to romantic sensitivity, reinterpreted however in the light of a distinctly classicizing and academic climate. This equidistance between classicism and romanticism, the two dichotomous positions of that vehement diatribe that marked the XNUMXth century, played a decisive role in the success of Hayez's production, which in this way exercised an authoritative influence on XNUMXth-century painting and on Italian aesthetic taste.

A significant comparison can be made with works by Hayez such as Tamar and Judas (1847, Collection of the Civic Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art – Castello di Masnago) and other representations of biblical heroines painted by him (Bathsheba bathing, Rebecca, Susanna, Lot and her daughters, as well as numerous versions of odalisques and bathers) in which a similar scenographic setting and a profound expressive intensity emerge. The pathos and emphasis on the dramatic nature of the narrative recall his compositions, from which the painter active here must have drawn inspiration, where the female figure is often portrayed with great dignity and emotional strength.

The setting and pictorial language therefore suggest a connection with Lombard artists of the period, known for their narrative sensitivity and ability to translate historical and religious subjects into images with a strong emotional impact. The work could be included in the Romantic trend of the second half of the nineteenth century, when the theme of suffering and biblical redemption was treated with strong pathos and theatrical rendering.

The painting depicts the biblical episode of Hagar and Ishmael in the desert, taken from the Book of Genesis (21:14-19). Hagar, an Egyptian slave and mother of Abraham's firstborn, Ishmael, was banished along with her son on Sarah's orders. Wandering in the desert of Beersheba, mother and son suffered from thirst until God heard Ishmael's cry and sent an angel to save the woman and child, indicating a well of water.

The work emphasizes the pathos of the scene through the contrast between the upright maternal figure, holding an amphora (symbol of hope and survival), and the young Ishmael, bent in a position of tiredness and suffering. The arid landscape and the earthy colors accentuate the drama of the narrative. Hagar's gesture, with her arm raised, seems to indicate the desperate search for divine help, underlining the theme of providence and miraculous salvation.

As in Hayez's representations of biblical heroines such as Tamar, Rebecca and Ruth, Hagar is depicted with an aura of nobility and inner strength, characteristics that in nineteenth-century Romantic art served to exalt female courage and suffering.

The choice of subject and its pictorial rendering suggest a sentimental and moralising reading, typical of 19th century Lombard historical painting.