Sacrifice of Isaac

religious

A particularly accomplished draughtsman, Empoli (actually Jacopo Chimenti) presents us here with an austere composition, one which succeeds in avoiding the least hint of sentimentalism, yet is nonetheless psychologically charged. The figures are well-constructed, well-finished and dignified, and the faces are expressive, each stricken by the enormity of the dramatic event. The landscape is simple and naturalistic, and not at all schematised.

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About the Artist

Jacopo Da Empoli

1551 – 1640

Italian painter and draughtsman, actually Jacopo Chimenti. He lived and worked in Florence all his life, and he followed Santi di Tito in the return to the clarity of the Florentine High Renaissance. He absorbed the ideas of his more innovative contemporaries and became one of the most popular painters of altarpieces for churches in Florence and Tuscany. He was also a distinguished still-life painter and received many commissions from private patrons, among them the Medici. Jacopo da Empoli's painting is distinguished by simple, lucid forms, strong colour and direct and clear interpretation of the subject.

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