Expulsion of the Hagar 

Pierre Mignard captured "Expulsion of Hagar" with pen and brush, using brown ink and gray wash. Here, Abraham casts Hagar and her son Ishmael into the wilderness, a harsh verdict rendered with an outstretched, commanding hand. Notice the charged emotional state mirrored in Hagar's desperate grasp on her child, a primal scene echoing across time. This motif of banishment appears repeatedly—think of Eve expelled from Eden, or the wanderings of Odysseus. The pain of exile is a recurring nightmare of the collective unconscious. Abraham’s gesture, though, recalls Jupiter's thunderous command or even a judge passing sentence. The hand, an age-old symbol of power, appears in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Renaissance paintings, evolving yet retaining its authority. Its reappearance here is a powerful force engaging viewers on a deep, subconscious level. This symbol of banishment, like many others, progresses non-linearly, resurfacing and evolving through different eras.