Hagar and Ishmael
by 1894
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
14 1/8 x 18 in. (35.9 x 45.7 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Wallace Sawyer, 1925
Accession Number
25.198
Art Historical Context
In the intimate oil on canvas *Hagar and Ishmael completed by 1894, artist Robert Loftin Newman captures a poignant moment from the biblical narrative in Genesis. Depicting the Egyptian servant Hagar and her son Ishmael banished to the wilderness by Abraham and Sarah, the painting evokes themes of exile, divine providence, and maternal despair. Newman's small-scale work (14 1/8 x 18 in.) invites close contemplation, its modest dimensions suggesting it may have been a personal study or cabinet picture rather than a grand salon piece. Newman, active in New York's vibrant late-19th-century art s...