Giovanni Battista Piazzetta - El Sacrificio de Isaac

Museum Thyssen-Bornemisza Giovanni Battista Piazzetta The Sacrifice of Isaac Piazzetta began his training in his hometown with his father, a woodcarver, and with the Tenebrist painter Molinari. Shortly after he traveled to Bologna, where he was a disciple of Crespi, whose style was decisive in his training. The two canvases in the museum were made in Venice shortly after returning from Bologna, so they belong to the years of youth and early maturity in which Piazzetta made his paintings using strong light and dark, giving his compositions a dramatic and theatrical emphasis. The Sacrifice of Isaac presents this naked in the center at the moment when he is going to be sacrificed by his father Abraham, but at that moment the angel stops him. The figures have a great intensity and individual characterization, and the different attitudes are valued. Thus, Abraham appears tense, with a constricted face. The arm that grips the knife transmits the tension of the stopped movement. Isaac, on the contrary, appears as faint, with an inert, heavy body, letting himself fall on his father. The group is well-trapped, and the volumes appear modeled based on the light-dark. The chromatism in the range of browns, browns and reds also shows another of the characteristics of this artist.