Lot 47 Dα

The present work is a copy of a slightly larger version painted by J. Liss which hangs in the Uffizi in Florence (inv. 1890, no. 1376). It depicts the moment in which Abraham is informed that he would be spared from carrying out God's order to sacrifice his own son.
In his undated expertise, Kurt Steinbart describes the present painting as “an original work, in particularly good condition”, by Johann Liss. According to him the present work “with regards to quality can be related most closely to the finest version of the motif in Florence (Uffizi), and even exceeds it in the vivacity and harmony of its contrasting colours”. However, in his catalogue raisonné of 1999, Rüdiger Klessmann lists the work as a copy after the painting in Florence, which he considers to be the only original version by the artist. He thus regards the further versions in the Museum Bredius in The Hague, the Schleswig-Holsteinischen Landesmuseum in Schleswig, the Palazzo Madama in Rome and the version once owned by the opera singer Anna Moffo to be copies.