Johann Gottlieb Prestel

According to the Bible, Hagar, the handmaid of Abraham’s wife, Sarah, bore Abraham’s first son, Ishmael. When Sarah gave birth to her own son, she convinced Abraham to banish Hagar and Ishmael to the wilderness. This episode is depicted in this German print, which reproduces, in opposite orientation, a Dutch oil painting. Prestel employed selective inking and multiple plates to convey the visual complexity of the painted original, a version of which belongs to the RISD Museum.

Prestel and his wife, Maria Katharina, were early practitioners of color aquatint in Germany, specializing in facsimile reproductions of drawings and paintings from famous collections. Their prints were treasured by art lovers such as writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and were widely admired for their technical innovations.

This print was purchased primarily because it relates to a painting in the Museum's collection: Expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael by Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722), Helen M. Danforth Acquisition Fund, 59.063. Johann Gottlieb Prestel and his wife Maria Catharina Prestel created many prints that reproduced drawings from various collections, working exclusively in the color aquatint process soon after it was patented in the 1760s. Aquatint is a tonal etching technique in which tiny grains of resin are fused to the metal plate with heat. The resin resists the acid bath, and the fine pitting formed around the grains holds ink below the surface to render a rich, velvety texture when printed. In 1786, the artist and his wife separated, and Johann went to work in London.