Gideon’s Sacrifice

The painting depicts an episode in the life of Gideon, the fifth judge of Israel, told in the Old Testament. The story goes that the desert nomad populations invaded Palestine, robbing and pillaging. Gideon was chosen by God to save His people.
The message was brought to Gideon by an angel who appeared to him and made Gideon offer a sacrifice. In the painting, Gideon is pouring the kid’s meat broth over the unleavened bread on a stone shaped like an altar, while the angel touches the stone with the tip of his stick to make fire jump out of the rock.
The painting was stolen from the church in Povo in 1978. Unfortunately, before it could be recovered (2009), it was cut out from its frame and the landscape with architecture of the background was lost.