The Banishment of Hagar and Ishmael, from The Story of Abraham 1584 - 1585

Curator: Here we have Adriaen Collaert's engraving, "The Banishment of Hagar and Ishmael, from The Story of Abraham," dating from around 1584-1585. Editor: My immediate impression is one of controlled chaos, perhaps a Baroque sensibility contained within tightly wound lines. The light and shadow create so much dynamism, and even with so much negative space, my eye hardly finds a place to rest. Curator: Absolutely. Consider how the linear precision carries the narrative weight. Collaert presents Hagar’s story – she was cast out into the desert with her son Ishmael by Abraham at the insistence of Sarah, Abraham's wife. This banishment marks a pivotal moment of both heartbreak and perceived destiny. You notice the domestic busyness to the right with an outdoor forest to the left – it presents an allegory of a departure from comfort, as God protects them. Editor: The composition uses a distinct split; Hagar and Abraham are in this tight center stage, rigidly postured – with a somewhat softer focus on figures moving and reaching. You might also notice that, rather strikingly, there's only a sort of visual barrier formed in the landscape by trees between the classical or biblical subjects, versus something less easy to name. Almost theatrical… Curator: And notice how Hagar is led away – with the hand held at center stage. Abraham, in almost protective body language, shields Hagar’s chest area; at the same time, his words indicate otherwise as she goes with the waterskin hung over her shoulder. These stark contradictions appear so much across similar engravings. Consider Sarah's power dynamic playing out at this precise moment. It is like Sarah casts Hagar and Ishmael out from the very door we are all on the threshold of. Editor: You read a great tension between detail and abstraction, in this reading, I find some affinity between both landscape backdrops and both figures at center, which provides insight, both to Hagar's exile, and our point-of-view into this family struggle. Curator: Yes, and knowing these were intended as printed reproductions – so a multiplication and distribution of moral lesson…that interplay of light, and dark really digs deep. Editor: A stark narrative told in stark lines. The formal construction emphasizes a psychological drama frozen in a moment of exquisite and agonizing tension. Thank you, Curator. Curator: And thank you. Exploring the human stories intertwined with cultural legacies keeps these historical narratives alive.