by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
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The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting
Caravaggio's Sacrifice of Isaac fixes the moment when an angel stops Abraham from killing his son. Abraham's hand presses down on Isaac, whose open mouth makes the fear of the interrupted act impossible to miss. The angel grips Abraham's wrist and points to the ram that will take the boy's place. The Uffizi dates this painting about 1603 and identifies Maffeo Barberini as its commissioner, supported by documented payments to Caravaggio.[1]
This is the accepted Caravaggio painting in the Uffizi, inventory 1890 no. 4659. A second site route, Sacrifice of Isaac (1598), depicts a different canvas now catalogued as a work by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi around 1615–17. The two pictures have a related subject and a complicated attribution history, but they are not two secure autograph Caravaggios.[1][2]
Caravaggio in context
The Cardsharps
c.1595Calling of Saint Matthew
1599–1600Supper at Emmaus
1601At a Glance
- ArtistMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio[1]
- TitleThe Sacrifice of Isaac[1]
- Dateabout 1603 in the Uffizi catalogue[1]
- Mediumoil on canvas[1]
- Dimensions104 × 135 cm, height × width[1]
- CollectionUffizi Galleries, Florence, inventory 1890 no. 4659[1]
- CommissionerMaffeo Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII; the owner cites payments to Caravaggio[1]
- Later collection eventdonated to the Uffizi by John Fairfax Murray in July 1917[1]
Contents
- The Instant of Intervention
- Abraham, Isaac and the Angel
- The Ram and the Landscape
- A Barberini Commission
- The Painting's Journey to the Uffizi
- The Cavarozzi Picture and Attribution
- What Remains Interpretation
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Instant of Intervention
Genesis tells how God tests Abraham by asking him to offer his son Isaac. At the last moment, an angel forbids the killing and a ram becomes the substitute offering. Caravaggio chooses that interruption, not the journey up the mountain or the sacrifice completed. The action is suspended between Abraham's raised intention and the angel's urgent stop.[1][3]
The scene is hard to look at because the bodies are close together. Abraham leans over Isaac, and the boy's face turns outward in alarm. The angel's hand does not merely point from a safe distance; it takes Abraham's wrist. The picture makes obedience, fear and rescue physical. A spectator can see the act being prevented in the pressure of one hand against another.[1]
Caravaggio's decision differs from a remote illustration of an Old Testament story. Isaac is not an abstract emblem of innocence. He appears as a frightened boy, close enough for the viewer to register his cry. Abraham's age, firm grip and concentrated face make the danger credible. The angel's solid body gives divine intervention equal physical force.[1]
The Uffizi explicitly notes how human the angel appears and how tightly he grasps the old man's wrist. The contact gives the scene its dramatic hinge. If the viewer follows the line from Abraham's hand through the angel's grasp to the ram, the narrative becomes legible without a written caption.[1]
Abraham, Isaac and the Angel
The three figures are bound into a compact arrangement. Abraham's hand and knife carry the immediate threat, Isaac's open mouth gives that threat a human consequence, and the angel turns it aside. Light picks out their faces and arms while the darker ground keeps attention on the contact. The violence is imminent but not completed.[1]
The angel points to the ram, following the biblical account of substitution. The Uffizi says this gesture makes God's mercy visible in the composition. It is an interpretation grounded in the narrated action, not a guess based only on colour or an isolated plant. The ram is essential to understanding why the boy survives.[1][3]
Abraham's expression has room for conflicting readings. He could be startled, strained or obedient; the image does not record a spoken explanation of his feelings. What is certain is the physical sequence Caravaggio paints. The angel grips, the knife is halted, and Isaac remains in danger for the painted instant. Describing those actions precisely gives readers more than a stock phrase about chiaroscuro.
The boy's cry also changes the devotional encounter. Viewers are invited to consider Isaac's vulnerability rather than only Abraham's faith. The result can be unsettling even though the biblical ending is known. Caravaggio holds the turning point long enough for rescue and terror to coexist.
The Ram and the Landscape
The ram appears at the side of the action, the substitute the angel indicates. Behind the crowded foreground, the Uffizi describes a broad Mediterranean hilly landscape with buildings and a village. That space makes this canvas visually different from Caravaggio scenes that confine all figures within darkness. The owner notes echoes of Lombard and Venetian training in the landscape.[1]
Some earlier interpreters treated a hilltop building as a church with a baptistery and read the light as a sign of divine grace. The Uffizi presents these as historical symbolic interpretations, not a documented key to every architectural feature. Isaac's sacrifice has long been understood in Christian theology as a foreshadowing of Christ's, yet the exact identity of the small building remains a separate question.[1]
The contrast between immediate bodies and receding landscape matters compositionally. The figures are close enough to feel urgent, while the distant hills offer a world beyond the ordeal. Light connects the areas rather than simply isolating the protagonists. This is an object-specific feature; it should not be hidden under a generalized claim that Caravaggio always used featureless black backgrounds.
A Barberini Commission
The Uffizi identifies Maffeo Barberini as the commissioner and cites payments he made to Caravaggio. Barberini was an influential cleric who later became Pope Urban VIII. The written payment evidence gives this commission a firmer footing than an attribution inferred solely from a later collector's label.[1]
The subject of Abraham and Isaac would have carried theological force for a clerical patron. The Uffizi says Barberini certainly indicated the theme. The painting's physical drama may also have appealed to a viewer interested in how a familiar biblical narrative could become immediate and emotionally demanding. We can place that response alongside the commission evidence without pretending to possess Barberini's complete instructions to the painter.[1]
The date c.1603 belongs to the Uffizi's current object record. It should not be moved to 1598 because another, later painting of the same subject inherited that year in a URL. The documented commissioner, inventory number and measurements identify this canvas securely.[1]
The Painting's Journey to the Uffizi
The Uffizi says John Fairfax Murray donated the painting in July 1917. He had purchased it under the name of Gherardo delle Notti from a company that acquired part of the Colonna Sciarra family's property. The work's prior misidentification is a useful reminder that labels and attributions can change even for a painting now securely catalogued to Caravaggio.[1]
The museum's record states that Caravaggio's authorship has long been accepted and is also supported by the Barberini payments. Its present accession is 1890 no. 4659. The apparent “1890” in the inventory numbering should not be mistaken for the date of acquisition: the donor event recorded by the museum was in 1917.[1]
The Uffizi's current room information can change with loans and rehanging. The stable facts for an article are the museum, inventory and owner object record. A visitor should check the museum's live display information before relying on a specific gallery number.
The Cavarozzi Picture and Attribution
The other Sacrifice of Isaac page concerns a picture long discussed under Caravaggio's name but now catalogued by Nicholas Hall as Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, about 1615–17, 116 × 175 cm. Yuri Primarosa's catalogue essay describes it as a reworking of Caravaggio's Uffizi painting. Scholars once exhibited it as a Caravaggio, but later research increasingly favoured Cavarozzi.[2]
That attribution history is part of the subject's story. Caravaggio's treatment was influential, and a strong later painting could resemble his naturalism without being made by his hand. The Cavarozzi canvas has its own composition, surface and collection history. It should not be used as visual evidence for details of the Uffizi work or counted as a second accepted version by Caravaggio.[1][2]
Comparison is still worthwhile. Both images turn on the angel's intervention and the ram's substitution. Their differences can show how a follower adapted a dramatic religious model. An editorial page can explain that relationship while naming the artists plainly beside each image.
What Remains Interpretation
The owner record supplies the main facts: c.1603, oil on canvas, 104 × 135 cm, Barberini payments and the 1917 donation. The painting itself shows the grasped wrist, frightened Isaac, ram and landscape. Claims about exact symbolic meanings of a distant building or every emotional state of the figures go beyond that evidence unless framed as interpretations.[1]
The story's power lies in the halt. Caravaggio brings an ancient test of faith to the instant when a hand can still stop a knife. The painting leaves Isaac's terror visible even as the ram and angel announce rescue. That tension, supported by the Uffizi's object record and the visible composition, makes it a substantial work to read on its own terms.
Explore the Caravaggio collection
| Name | Date | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Adoration of the Shepherds by Caravaggio: The Messina Nativity | 1608–09; precise order relative to Resurrection of Lazarus remains unresolved | Artwork |
| Amor Victorious by Caravaggio | 1601–02 in the Berlin owner record | Artwork |
| Bacchus by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1598, according to the Uffizi | Artwork |
| Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | after 1597, probably around the turn of the seventeenth century, according to the Ambrosiana | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1594–95 in the National Gallery's current catalogue; URL suffix “1596” is inherited | Artwork |
| Boy Bitten by a Lizard: The Florence Version Attributed to Caravaggio | disputed; Longhi's catalogue record preserves historical 1592–93 and other proposed ranges, including c.1597 | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit by Caravaggio: The Royal Collection Painting | about 1592–93 in the owner's current exhibition record | Artwork |
| Boy Peeling Fruit in Florence: A Derivation from Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Boy with a Basket of Fruit by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio Paintings in Rome: Churches, Museums and a Practical Route | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio Quotes: What the Documents Actually Record | — | Guide |
| Caravaggio's Lute Player: The Del Monte Painting Once Shown at the Met | about 1596–97 in the Met catalogue | Artwork |
| Caravaggio's Painting Technique: Grounds, Incisions, Revisions and Light | — | Guide |
| Christ at the Column by Caravaggio: The Rouen Flagellation | c.1606 in the owner caption; owner prose gives 1606–07 | Artwork |
| Christ on the Mount of Olives by Caravaggio: The Lost Berlin Painting | — | Artwork |
| Conversion on the Way to Damascus by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the Roma Capitale church record | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1603 in the 2019 KHM record; “1607” is an inherited URL suffix | Artwork |
| Crowning with Thorns in Prato: Attributed to Caravaggio | about 1602–03 in the collection presentation | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | 1606–07 or 1609–10 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue; the later Naples period is favoured by many scholars, while the owner keeps the question open | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Prado Painting | about 1600 in Prado material; “1599” survives only in the legacy URL | Artwork |
| David with the Head of Goliath by Caravaggio: The Vienna Painting | about 1600–01 in the KHM's 2019 exhibition record; “1607” is a legacy route label | Artwork |
| Did Caravaggio Make Drawings? What Survives and What Paintings Reveal | — | Guide |
| Ecce Homo: Caravaggio's Madrid Rediscovery and the Genoa Painting | — | Artwork |
| John the Baptist in Caravaggio's Paintings: A Guide to the Different Versions | — | Artwork |
| Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio | beginning of the seventeenth century in the owning museum's account; about 1599–1600 in the Kimbell's 2025 loan label; around 1602 in one specialist catalogue | Artwork |
| Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto: Caravaggio's Ludovisi Ceiling | about 1597; the archive connects the work with Cardinal del Monte's 1597 commission | Artwork |
| Madonna and Child with Saint Anne by Caravaggio: The Palafrenieri Altarpiece | 1605 in the Galleria Borghese object field; completed and delivered by 8 April 1606 | Artwork |
| Madonna of Loreto by Caravaggio: The Pilgrims at Sant'Agostino | broadly c.1604–06; institutional records differ slightly in their starting year | Artwork |
| Madonna of the Rosary by Caravaggio: The Vienna Altarpiece | around 1603 in the Kunsthistorisches Museum's object record | Artwork |
| Martha and Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio: The Detroit Painting | about 1598 in the Detroit Institute of Arts record | Artwork |
| Medusa by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painted Shield | 1596–98 in the Uffizi's virtual exhibition; specialist research reports the shield delivered to the Medici wardrobe by 7 September 1598 | Artwork |
| Narcissus, Attributed to Caravaggio | dependent on attribution; the Zeri catalogue gives a broad 1610–50 range under Spadarino | Artwork |
| Nativity with Saint Francis and Saint Lawrence: Caravaggio's Missing Painting | somewhere in 1600–09 in the parliamentary report; a specific 1609 execution and place remain debated | Artwork |
| Penitent Mary Magdalene by Caravaggio | 1597 in the owner's catalogue, during Caravaggio's early Roman activity | Artwork |
| Portrait of a Courtesan: Caravaggio's Lost Berlin Portrait | Berlin's data field says c.1590, while its own text compares a Caravaggio work of c.1598; precise date unresolved | Artwork |
| Portrait of Alof de Wignacourt and His Page by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| Portrait of Fra Antonio Martelli? Caravaggio's Pitti Knight of Malta | 1608 in the Restituzioni object heading; within Caravaggio's Malta period | Artwork |
| Portrait of Maffeo Barberini: The Seated Corsini Painting | c.1596–97 in the national catalogue | Artwork |
| Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini: Caravaggio's Newly Acquired Painting | around the late 1590s / age thirty; “1598” in the inherited address is approximate, not an exact document date | Artwork |
| Portrait of Pope Paul V: A Caravaggio Attribution and a Borghese Copy | — | Artwork |
| Prints After Caravaggio: Who Made Them and What They Show | — | Guide |
| Reclining Saint John the Baptist: A Disputed Caravaggio Attribution | often proposed for the artist's final years; the later museum list does not give a precise year. | Artwork |
| Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Caravaggio | about 1597 in the owner's catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Catherine of Alexandria by Caravaggio: The Thyssen Painting | about 1598–99 in the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza catalogue | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Meditation by Caravaggio: The Cremona Painting | 1603–06 in the owner account; c.1605–06 in a KHM exhibition caption | Artwork |
| Saint Francis in Prayer: Caravaggio's Carpineto Painting | 1606 in a 2016–17 exhibition work list | Artwork |
| Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy by Caravaggio | c.1595–96 in the owner wall text | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome in Meditation: Caravaggio's Montserrat Painting | 1605 in the owner record; an owner publication reports scholarship placing it about 1605–06 | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Borghese Painting | c.1606 in the owner catalogue; the “1605” URL suffix is inherited | Artwork |
| Saint Jerome Writing by Caravaggio: The Malta Painting | around 1607–08; foundation dates Malaspina's commission to 1608 | Artwork |
| Saint John in the Wilderness at Toledo Cathedral | exact 1598 not established by the cited cathedral account. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at Galleria Corsini, Rome | about 1606 in the national record; older proposals ranged from the late 1590s onward. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Capitoline Museums, Rome | 1602. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Galleria Borghese | 1609–10 in the current Borghese record. | Artwork |
| Saint John the Baptist at the Spring: The Bonello Painting in Malta | early seventeenth century in the institutional account; a precise 1608 is not established there. | Artwork |
| Saint Matthew and the Angel: Caravaggio's Lost First Altarpiece | — | Artwork |
| Salome Receives the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's London Painting | about 1609–10, likely late Naples period in the Gallery's account | Artwork |
| Salome with the Head of John the Baptist: Caravaggio's Madrid Painting | — | Artwork |
| Sleeping Cupid by Caravaggio: The Painting Made in Malta | about 1608, Malta period | Artwork |
| Still Life with Fruit on a Stone Ledge: Is It by Caravaggio? | — | Artwork |
| Supper at Emmaus (1606): Caravaggio's Brera Painting | — | Artwork |
| The Annunciation by Caravaggio in Nancy | c.1607–10 in the collection record; 1608–10 in the museum's restoration account | Artwork |
| The Basel Saint John the Baptist: Once Labelled Caravaggio, Now Maíno | about 1608–10 in that schedule, rather than the legacy URL's 1600. | Artwork |
| The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | about 1608; installed in the Oratory on 29 August 1608 | Artwork |
| The Burial of Saint Lucy by Caravaggio in Syracuse | 1608, during Caravaggio's Syracuse stay | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | about 1599–1600 | Artwork |
| The Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew by Caravaggio | about 1602–04 in the Trust's object text | Artwork |
| The Cardsharps by Caravaggio | about 1596–97 in the Kimbell's current object record | Artwork |
| The Conversion of Saint Paul: Caravaggio's Odescalchi Panel | commissioned in 1600; painted around 1600–01 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew by Caravaggio | 1606–07 | Artwork |
| The Crucifixion of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | about 1601 | Artwork |
| The Death of the Virgin by Caravaggio | commissioned 1601; completed late 1605 or early 1606, according to the Louvre | Artwork |
| The Denial of Saint Peter by Caravaggio | 1610 | Artwork |
| The Doria Pamphilj Saint John the Baptist: A Second Youth with a Ram | linked compositionally to the Capitoline 1602 picture; an exact production year for this canvas is not established by the owner pages used here. | Artwork |
| The Entombment of Christ by Caravaggio: The Vatican Deposition | about 1600–04 in Vatican Museums publication material | Artwork |
| The Flagellation of Christ by Caravaggio: The Capodimonte Altarpiece | around 1607, in the first Naples period | Artwork |
| The Fortune Teller by Caravaggio: The Louvre Version and Its Roman Counterpart | — | Artwork |
| The Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist by Caravaggio | early 1600s in the Met catalogue; no more exact owner date asserted here | Artwork |
| The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio | about 1601 in the SPSG presentation | Artwork |
| The Inspiration of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | usually 1602; also catalogued 1602–03, for the installed final altarpiece | Artwork |
| The Lute Player by Caravaggio: The Hermitage Painting | about 1596 in the Hermitage collection publication; the Hermitage Friends restoration page gives about 1595–96 | Artwork |
| The Magdalen in Ecstasy: Caravaggio, Copies and a Disputed Original | — | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio | 1599–1600; unveiled with The Calling in 1600 | Artwork |
| The Martyrdom of Saint Ursula by Caravaggio | — | Artwork |
| The Musicians by Caravaggio | 1597 | Artwork |
| The Resurrection of Lazarus by Caravaggio in Messina | 1609; delivered 10 June 1609 in the owner account | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi: A Former Caravaggio Attribution | about 1615–17 in the Nicholas Hall catalogue; “1598” is an inherited URL label, not the accepted date | Artwork |
| The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio: The Uffizi Painting | about 1603 in the Uffizi catalogue | Artwork |
| The Seven Works of Mercy by Caravaggio | 1606–07, according to the Pio Monte | Artwork |
| The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio: The London Painting | 1601 | Artwork |
| The Taking of Christ by Caravaggio | 1602 | Artwork |
| The Toulouse *Judith Beheading Holofernes*: A Caravaggio Attribution Debate | c.1606–07 if identified with the recorded Naples work; that identification is debated | Artwork |
| Young Sick Bacchus by Caravaggio | about 1595 in the Galleria Borghese catalogue | Artwork |
| Youth with a Ram: Why Caravaggio's Saint John Looks So Unusual | — | Artwork |
No matching pages found.
Discussion
Share a close observation about The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio or a source that clarifies its history.
Which detail changes your reading?
Is there a collection record or document worth comparing?
What remains uncertain?
Join the Conversation
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Caravaggio's Sacrifice of Isaac?
It belongs to the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, inventory 1890 no. 4659. Check current display information for the room.[1]
When was it painted?
Who commissioned it?
Maffeo Barberini, later Pope Urban VIII. The Uffizi cites payments from Barberini to Caravaggio.[1]
What stops Abraham?
Are there two accepted Caravaggio Sacrifice of Isaac paintings here?
No. The other canvas in this cluster is now catalogued as a work by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi. Its earlier attribution to Caravaggio is part of its history.[2]
References
- Gallerie degli Uffizi, Sacrifice of Isaac, inventory 1890 no. 4659.
- Nicholas Hall, Bartolomeo Cavarozzi, The Sacrifice of Isaac, catalogue essay by Yuri Primarosa.
- Vatican, Genesis 22, the sacrifice of Isaac.
