Abraham Preparing to Sacrifice his Son, According to God’s Command (Gen. 27:9-14), plate 10 from the series “Bible”, Marc Chagall, Russian, 1931-39 (Printed in 1956), Watercolor over-etching.

Prominent French art dealer Ambroise Vollard commissioned Marc Chagall to create a series of etchings illustrating the Bible in 1930. When Chagall finished the series in 1956, long after Vollard’s death in 1939, the 105 works were published in Verve, a French art magazine. The following year it was featured in an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and critics celebrated the series as an emotive, modern interpretation of the Old Testament. Many were impressed by the soft texture as a result of Chagall’s cross-hatching and the detail of each individual face, which art historians believe were derived from likenesses of Jews Chagall had encountered in Eastern Europe. This particular print was most likely finished before 1936, after a trip to Poland Chagall took in 1935. The story in Genesis tells how God ordered Abraham to prove his devotion by killing his son, Isaac. However, an angel appeared at the pivotal moment, saving Isaac by procuring a lamb to offer in his stead.

Some scholars consider Chagall the ideal choice for this commission because of his Russian Jewish heritage. Born in a Hassidic village in Belarus, the young artist moved to Paris to work. After going home to see his family during the First World War, he returned to Paris in 1922. Upon his arrival, Vollard sent Chagall several commissions, leading up to this Bible series.