Landscape with the Offering of Isaac

According to the Old Testament, God tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac (Genesis 22:1–13). At the last moment an angel appeared and stayed Abraham's hand; he sacrificed a ram caught in a nearby thicket instead. Although this painting nominally represents the story of Abraham’s attempted sacrifice, it also testifies to the secular fascination with the physical world in a period of great global exploration. The landscape does not represent a specific place but is a fantastic amalgam of jagged mountains, forests populated with hidden creatures, and vistas of distant cities and plains. Pictures such as this would have been made for the pleasure of wealthy patrons; accounts dated shortly after Herri’s time indicate their popularity both in the artist’s native Flanders and as far away as Italy. Even today, we can view this painting in the same way we would view the panorama from a mountain top, marveling at life in miniature and the wonders of creation.