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The Banishment of Hagar

1839–41
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 801


In this scene from the Book of Genesis, Abraham casts out his son Ishmael and the boy’s mother, the servant Hagar, to placate his wife, Sarah, who wants Isaac, her son with Abraham, to be sole heir. Abraham’s pose, with arms outstretched to both women, embodies the emotional and moral tension of the story. The simplicity of the composition and the delicate color harmonies attest to Overbeck’s appreciation for early Renaissance painting. Although many of his contemporaries regarded this bygone art as archaic, he championed its purity and spirituality. In 1809, Overbeck brought together a cohort of like-minded German artists, who came to be called the Nazarenes, after some of Jesus’s first followers.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Banishment of Hagar
  • Artist: Johann Friedrich Overbeck (German, Lübeck 1789–1869 Rome)
  • Date: 1839–41
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 39 in. × 44 3/4 in. (99.1 × 113.7 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, Wolfe Fund; and Charles and Jessie Price Gift, 2024
  • Object Number: 2024.107
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Hagar in the Wilderness, Camille Corot French, Oil on canvas
Hagar in the Wilderness
Camille Corot
1835
The Martyrdom of the seven brothers; verso: Sketch of two men wrestling (?), Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld German, Pen and brown ink, over a sketch in graphite; verso: graphite
The Martyrdom of the seven brothers; verso: Sketch of two men wrestling (?)
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld
1826
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, Johann Friedrich Overbeck German, Black fabricated crayon (possibly early conté crayon) with touches of brown fabricated crayon and thin brown watercolor wash; framing line in black fabricated crayon
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
Johann Friedrich Overbeck
1848
Return of the Prodigal Son, Friedrich Olivier German, Graphite; framing lines in pen and black ink
Return of the Prodigal Son
Friedrich Olivier
1830–35
The Lamentation, Johann Friedrich Overbeck German, Graphite partly worked over with pen and black ink and heightened with white; graphite framing line
The Lamentation
Johann Friedrich Overbeck
1840–45

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