Dutch Scenery

Hagar and Ismael in a Dutch landscape by the Dutch Mannerist Painter Abraham Bloemaert (ca.1564-1651).

Merciless Expulsion

Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael by the Italian Baroque painter Gian Francesco Barbieri (1591-1666). Sarah turns her back to the cruel scenery.

Poor Hagar

Abraham sending away Hagar and Ishmael by the Flemish Baroque painter Anthonis van Dyck. Hagar looks still like a seductress because she is half-naked while in the back the chaste Sarah can be seen.

A Great Sacrifice

Sarah presents Hagar to Abraham by the Dutch golden age painter Mathias Stom (c. 1600 - after 1649). That’s a rare scenery. Stom depicts here how the old Sarah brings her young and fertile (!) servant Hagar to the bed of her beloved husband, a really enormous sacrifice.

A strong mother

Hagar and Ishmael by the English painter Frederick Goodall (1822-1904). Here the mother is still strong, totally concentrated on the long march in the desert. Ishmael is also carrying the vital water but above all he’s depending on his mother. She’s marching on.

Old Sarah and young Hagar

The Dutch painter Adriaen van der Werff (1669-1722) depicts here how Sarah presents her young slave Hagar to her husband so that he can have children with her. Werff confronts here the old face of Sarah with the young naked and fertile looking body of Hagar.

Hagar Saved

Hagar and Ismael in the Widerness (1732) by the Italian rococo painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770).

Poor Hagar and Ismael are nearly dying when the angel appeared. Despite all this suffering in the hostile desert Hagar is still a well dressed rococo lady with a perfect hairstyle and makeup.

Divine Salvation

Hagar in the Wilderness (1835) by the French painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796-1875).

Corot was a Realist painter and a leading member of the Barbizon school in mid-nineteenth century France. Therefore he focused normally on landscape painting. The landscape is also dominating this painting, Hagar and her son Ishmael are only little figures in the vast desert. In a central position the rescuing angel is arriving. With all that naturalism Hagar’s theatrical pose annoys a little.

Hagar and Ishmael

Hagar and Ishmael (1830) by the English landscape painter Charles Lock Eastlake (1793-1865).

Mother and son lost in the wilderness, near to death. It’s a traditional composition but not a great painting. Without the empty jug nobody would know where the problem is, because Hagar looks more bored than thirsty.

Landscape with Hagar

The Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael (1668) by the French Baroque painter Claude Lorrain (1600-1682).

Lorrain worked in Italy and was famous for his landscape painting, which he normally decorated with some classical buildings and pastoral figures in classical dress. He was primarily interested in an ideal landscape and its illumination, second came the classical architecture. So here Hagar and Ishmael appear more as a decoration of the landscape.

Hagar by Rubens

Here Hagar is driven away by Abraham and his wife Sarah. Interesting is that there the boy Ishmael is missing. Instead of this Hagar is pregnant. So it seems that the famous Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) gives a very subjective interpretation of the old story. A pregnant servant is chased away by her master and his wife. The difference could be seen in the elegant silk clothes of Sarah compared to the common clothes of Hagar. The aggressive dog is a nice detail as well.

It’s a scene which was easy to understand for the people in the time of Rubens. So he didn’t make any effort to give the painting a historical or oriental look. This happened every day.

Hagar Leaves the House of Abraham (1615)

Dutch Hagar

This painting showing Hagar and her son Ishmael chased away by Abraham is probably from the 1630s and by the Dutch Mannerist Painter Abraham Bloemaert (ca.1564-1651).

Typically for that time is the dutch landscape and the costumes. Bloemaert painted a rich farmer who expeled a servant with his unwished bastard. Only the turban is a reminiscence that the story has happened somewhere in the Orient.

Hagar by Vernet

Abraham casting out Hagar (1837) by the French artist Emile Jean Horace Vernet (1789-1863).

Surprising may be the great similarity with the engraving by Doré. But Doré did it nearly 30 years later and so its clear where he got his ideas from.

Also interesting is the orientalistic look which gave Vernet the scene. Abraham is an real Arab chief. Only the (too) little boy reminds of a typical classical painting. Why has he to be naked? Maybe this should emphasize his helplessness.

Hagar and Ishmael

Because Sarah the beloved wife of Abraham thougt she couln't become pregnant she gave her husband her Egyptian slave Hagar as a second wife. Hagar hat with Abraham a son whom she named Ishmael. With the years there aroused more and more problems between the two women. Sarah was the first, but Hagar was the mother of Abramhams son. These problems culminated after fourteen years when Sarah herself gave birth to Isaac. After new quarrels she demanded now the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. In the region where Abraham where living with his family this was like a death sentence. So Abraham was at first reluctant to send them into the mortal desert. But when God supported the demands of his wife and
promised to take care of Ishmael, Abraham resited no longer.

Alone in the wilderness Hagar and Ishmael ran out of water. When they where near to death an angel appeared and showed Hagar a well. Later Ishmael became the forefather of the Arab people.

In this story there are some different aspects which interested western artists. At first there is the terrible expulsion of the helpless mother and her child. The second is how the both where near to neath in the wilderness and then saved by an angel. Some artists depicts how Sarah presents Hagar to her husband, Ishmael as an archer or other scenes. But above all remain the two: the expulsion and the saving by the angel.


Paul Gustave Doré (1832–1883) was a French artist and engraver. 1866 he made the illustrations for an English Bible, from which these pictures are taken.
Dore ist not the most important artist. But as a very popular engraver his pictures are comprehensive to art history. He is using the most symbols and arangements which are typical for the paintings of better artists. There is the the exaggerated pose of Abraham, the little child - it must have been at least 16 years at this time. In the wilderness its dark, Hagar is praying like on a stage and in front there is the empty jar.
All is arranged like a scene from a silent movie.