Hagar

The artist depicted the widely known Old Testament story "The Angel Saves Hagar and Ishmael in the Desert". He was referenced by renowned masters such as Simone Cantarini, Guercino, Sebastiano Ricci, and Claude Lorrain. Hagar was the servant of Abraham and the mother of his firstborn, Ishmael. Abraham is the first of the great patriarchs of the Old Testament, the progenitor of the chosen people, revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Abraham, the son of Terah, came from the Chaldees city of Ur in Mesopotamia, where he married his sister Sarah. Obeying the command of the Lord, he left Ur and, along with his wife, father, and nephew Lot, arrived in Canaan, where he became influential and wealthy. The only thing that troubled the couple was the lack of an heir. Therefore, Sarah gave Abraham her maid, the Egyptian Hagar, who soon bore him a son, Ishmael, who, according to Jewish law, was considered the official son and heir of Sarah and Abraham. Fourteen years passed. Three angels announced to the patriarch and Sarah the birth of a son. Indeed, ninety-year-old Sarah, who considered herself barren, gave birth to Isaac. Sarah did not want her only son to share the inheritance with the son of the maid, so she forced Abraham to cast them out of the house. With pain and a sense of guilt, Abraham complied, rising early in the morning, taking bread and a waterskin, giving them to Hagar, and sending the woman away with her son. They wandered in the desert. When they ran out of bread and water, she placed her son under a bush and went away to avoid seeing him die, but the boy cried. God heard him and sent an angel who showed them a well of water and commanded: "Up! Lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation" (Genesis 21:18). Ishmael became the progenitor of the warlike tribe of archers known as the Ishmaelites or Saracens ("sons of Sarah"), who inhabited the Arabian Peninsula. It is this moment that is depicted in the painting. In the centre is an angel turned to the right with outstretched wings, energetically pointing at the well behind him with his right hand. The left part of the painting is occupied by the figure of Hagar, dressed in traditional Baroque attire – lavish, golden-orange garments adorned with embroidery. The exhausted woman, kneeling on one knee, points to the figure of the boy, who lies motionless under the bush.

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery