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Hagar and the Angel

ca. 1657
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 620
Maffei lived and worked in the Italian cities of Vicenza and Padua, but was profoundly influenced by Venetian painting. At its most characteristic, his elegant vision veers into the mannered elongated figure types and loose brushwork seen in this painting above the doorway. This scene from the biblical book of Genesis shows the angel appearing to Hagar, an enslaved woman in Egypt. Banished with her infant Ishmael to the desert by her new husband, Abraham, Hagar was allegedly saved by a heavenly creature who directed her to a spring of water.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hagar and the Angel
  • Artist: Francesco Maffei (Italian, Vicenza 1605–1660 Padua)
  • Date: ca. 1657
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 41 3/4 x 54 in. (106 x 137.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Anna Mont, in memory of Frederick Mont, 2010
  • Object Number: 2012.100.1
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Studies of a kneeling man (recto); Study of a standing man at right, and small scene of a kneeling figure in an interior, probably the Virgin in the Annunciation (verso), Francesco Maffei Italian, Pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk (recto and verso)
Studies of a kneeling man (recto); Study of a standing man at right, and small scene of a kneeling figure in an interior, probably the Virgin in the Annunciation (verso)
Francesco Maffei
ca. 1650
Saint Francis, Federico Barocci Italian, Oil on canvas
Saint Francis
Federico Barocci
ca. 1600–1604
Head of an Old Woman, Orazio Borgianni Italian, Oil on canvas
Head of an Old Woman
Orazio Borgianni
after 1610
The Denial of Saint Peter, Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi) Italian, Oil on canvas
The Denial of Saint Peter
Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi)
1610
The Capture of Carthage, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo Italian, Oil on canvas
The Capture of Carthage
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
1725–29

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