Hagar in the desert

Painting from the museum’s collection depicting a young woman sitting in a cave, accompanied by an angel. On the right side of the painting, away from the mother, an infant lies on the ground (on a nappy), next to an overturned empty water bag. This is an illustration for the story of Hagar, Abraham’s slave girl, described in the Old Testament. Abraham and his wife Sarah were unable to have offspring, and were both elderly. It was customary for the Israelites to claim as their own the child born of a servant who, in a sense, “replaced” the infertile wife. Abraham followed this custom and had intercourse with Sarah’s slave girl named Hagar, who bore him a son named Ishmael. After the birth of the child, relations between Sarah and her slave deteriorated and Sarah, having already had her son Isaac, demanded that Abraham send Hagar away with the child. Abraham was reluctant to do such a cruel act, but after God revealed that the child would not be harmed he yielded and banished Hagar to the desert, giving her a supply of food and water. One day, food ran out and then God sent his angel to the distraught mother to ensure the safety of her and the child. The painting kept in Łańcut depicts a scene in the wilderness, when the woman in exile ran out of water (the overturned, empty water bag) and moved away from her child, not wanting to see him die, while the angel points to a fountain of flowing water. Unfortunately, we do not know the author of the painting, it is probably an unknown painter representing the Italian school; the painting is dated to the 18th century and is exhibited in the Gala (Red) Corridor on the first floor of the castle.