God tested Abraham’s faith by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Though Abraham was prepared to follow through, at the last instant an angel stayed his hand, and a ram was sacrificed instead. Pittoni distributes each element of the story – the pile of wood, cauldron of fire, Isaac’s discarded clothes, and ram – around the massive central figure of Abraham. The painting’s clear, bright colors and fluttering draperies show the influence of the artist’s Venetian contemporaries, Sebastiano Ricci and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

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