In 1658, Fabritius was thirty-four years old and living in Leiden with his family. He had probably been painting since his mid-teens, but no works dating from before about 1650 are known. One of the earliest, a canvas in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, depicts the same subject as this one, which was exceedingly popular in Rembrandt's circle and with Protestant collectors. For further discussion of the theme, see Nicolaes Maes's
Abraham Dismissing Hagar and Ishmael (
1971.73).
In his previous treatment of the scene (Gen. 21:14), Fabritius was influenced by Rembrandt but more obviously based his composition on a painting of 1612 (Kunsthalle, Hamburg) by Rembrandt's teacher, Pieter Lastman (1583–1633). In several works that date or may be dated between the San Francisco canvas, of about 1650, and The Met's work, Fabritius clearly benefited from the influence of his brother Carel (1622–1654), adding effects of texture, daylight, and shadow to domestic settings. In the New York painting, by contrast, the artist appears to have returned to a manner more exclusively of the Rembrandt school in the 1650s, which is not unexpected for an artist working in Leiden and no doubt looking to Amsterdam for inspiration, as he had before. Carel Fabritius's example resulted in a Delft-like interlude in his brother's work, during which he painted several of his best pictures. Two or three years after Carel's death, however, Barent's style became more similar to that of Maes, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, and other Rembrandt pupils who first flourished in the 1640s or early 1650s.
Although the painting is a comparatively minor work by Fabritius, it should be said that reproductions do not do it justice. In the brown tones that dominate in the wooded landscape and in the garments, the fall of light and the use of local color concentrate the dramatic moment. The bold red of Abraham's jacket below his tan cloak is echoed in the clothing of his son. Hagar is heavily dressed in muted greens and whites, with a brick red coat circling her waist. A straw hat is tied at the back, and is awkwardly juxtaposed with a farmhouse in the distance. The trees and green hill in the background suggest that Hagar and Ishmael are being banished to Westphalia rather than to a wilderness in the Middle East.
Comparison with other biblical pictures by the artist assures one that this rather sentimental staging of the subject is entirely sincere. Abraham, at the age of one hundred, still has the physical and emotional strength to give Hagar a gentle shove and to point out her path. The manner in which she slumps in despair on his shoulder, with hands clasped together, is affecting and likely original to Fabritius. Ishmael's expression seems inconsistent with the mood of his parents and no match for what the young Maes achieved. It seems likely that Fabritius meant to suggest bravery and trust. In his right hand the boy holds onto the cord of Hagar's gourd filled with water (shoes and a knife also hang from her waist). His bow and quiver of arrows, conspicuously displayed, remind us that the future founder of the Ishmaelites would grow strong hunting in the wild.
[2016; adapted from Liedtke 2007]
