Fotoreproductie van het schilderij Het offer van Abraham door Il Sodoma in de Dom te Pisa, Italië 1860 - 1881

Curator: Here we have a gelatin-silver print from between 1860 and 1881 by Giacomo Brogi. It’s a photographic reproduction of Il Sodoma's painting "The Sacrifice of Abraham," which resides in the Pisa Cathedral, in Italy. Editor: Gosh, talk about a tense scene, right? Even in this monochromatic image, the weight of the impending action is palpable. Abraham looks enormous, about to strike, and Isaac looks vulnerable and pleading. Curator: The story itself is one freighted with issues. God asks Abraham to prove his faith by sacrificing his only son. Abraham is about to complete the act, when an angel intervenes, staying his hand. Brogi captures this intense moment in Sodoma's rendition. You really feel the struggle, don’t you? Editor: Absolutely. The tension is clearly depicted through their bodies – Abraham's raised arm with the sword and Isaac cowering on the altar, partially nude. The composition centers patriarchal authority. Do you feel there’s also a critique of religious fanaticism there? Curator: Possibly, though Sodoma’s original painting leans more into the heroic. Brogi's photograph introduces another layer, I think. The print flattens the colour and somehow renders the figures more human, fragile almost. What do you think? Editor: True. And Brogi making a reproduction is a statement itself. It broadens the narrative beyond the church walls. To create prints and allow it to disseminate to different communities, is like interrogating those long standing religious power dynamics. It feels… subversive? Curator: Subversive is interesting here, I like that. Yes, taking a powerful Renaissance painting, disseminating the message beyond a certain elite is subversive. Now you have given me much to reflect on, that really reframes how I’ve looked at this today! Editor: Same here! I came into it ready to focus on what I see as patriarchal trauma and it ended up offering even more angles of inquiry into art's power and reach.