The Dismissal of Hagar

Little Ishmael cries as Abraham sends him and his mother Hagar into the desert, with nothing but a bottle of water and some bread.

Hagar was a slave of Sarah, Abraham's wife. As Sarah seemed unable to have children, Abraham used Hagar to produce offspring: Ishmael. Years later however, Sarah gave birth to Isaac. She then insisted that Hagar and her child be dismissed.

In the desert they were saved by divine intervention: an angel showed them a water well.

In this painting Govert Flinck still applied the warm style he had acquired as a student of Rembrandt's. It came into the collection of Frederick William II of Prussia around 1764 and has since been part of the Prussian collection of old masters.