Francisco Collantes

In this brooding scene from the Old Testament, Hagar and her son Ishmael, banished from the home of Abraham, are confronted by an angel as they rest below a blasted tree on the bank of a raging river. The artist, Francisco Collantes, was unusual among Spanish landscape painters, as he subjected religious narratives to the drama of the natural world, literally bringing them down to earth. He places the encounter of the figures at the center of this composition, allowing the tumultuous landscape to magnify the story’s emotional content.