(Heraklion, Crete circa 1530–1608)
The Sacrifice of Abraham and the Adoration of the Magi,
oil on panel, 25.5 x 14.5 cm, unframed

Provenance:
Private collection, Milan

Literature:
P. Della Pergola, Un Greco giovanile, Emporium, 1952, 686., p. 51, 56, fig. 1, 2 (as Domínikos Theotokópoulos, called El Greco)

We are grateful to Maria Paphiti for suggesting the attribution and her help in cataloguing the present painting.

The upper, arched part of the composition shows the Sacrifice of Abraham, as described in Genesis, 22, 1-19. On a high plateau, the little Isaac, dressed in a scarlet tunic, with tied limbs kneels on a wooden sacrificial altar. His father, Abraham, dressed in a red chiton, raises a large knife, as he prepares to kill his son. An angel with extended wings appears amidst cloudy and radiating skies and spreads his hands in order first to prevent Abraham from slaying the boy and also, to point out the ram that was caught by its horns in a shrub to the left of the steep slope. According to the will of God, the ram should have been sacrificed instead of Isaac, and subsequently burnt on the fire that appears on the slope in front of the boy.

The lower section of the panel depicts the Adoration of the Magi. The Mother of God, seated to the far right in front of a columned shed, attended by Joseph, three shepherds and further back an ox and an ass, presents the nude Christ to the Magi and their entourage. The oldest of the Magi, having removed his crown and placed it on the ground together with his golden gift, kneels before Christ and raises his hand in awe. The black Magus, as well as the third one stand behind waiting for their turn to present their own gifts to the newborn infant. Two young men on the left are apparently the servants of the Magi. The youth in the foreground is dressed in military garments and carries the crown of one of the Magi. The background is occupied by a group of shepherds riding horses and pointing at the star on the upper right side of the panel, where two more shepherds at the foot of the mountain witness the miraculous event. The composition includes bucolic details of the everyday life, such as the two dogs in the foreground, as well as the shepherd on the right, who carries a hare. A unique iconographic element worth mentioning is the attire of the third Magus. Unlike the rest of the represented figures, who are dressed according to the norms repeated in icons, the latter Magus wears the ermine-trimmed ceremonial cloak of the doge of Venice. This is an element of the period when the work was painted, thus placing it in the socio-political context of the time.

This panel was probably originally thicker and may have had another painting on the reverse. The entire wing was probably part of a portable triptych, similar to those painted by George Klontzas, such as the work in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (inv. no. 37.628).

The present composition is charged with allegorical and didactic purpose. In the Old Testament, God tested Abraham’s faith by asking him to sacrifice his son. Respectively, in the New Testament God Himself sacrificed his begotten son in order to redeem humanity. The sacrifice of Abraham is a pre-figuration of the actual sacrifice of God’s son. Abraham and Isaac are the types, who were fulfilled in the anti-types of God and Christ. The concept of the present synthesis presupposed a highly intellectual and well-thought-out person with regard to religious matters. This person could have been the patron or the artist or, the composition could have been the outcome of the collaboration of the two. However, the artistic production of George Klontzas incorporates many artworks the arrangements of which are complex, including the previously mentioned triptych in the Walters Art Museum. It would, therefore, be possible to attribute the concept to the artist himself.

The artist George Klontzas, called Christianopoulos, was born circa 1530 in Heraklion, Crete. He was one of the most prominent and productive artists of his time and he painted miniatures as well as icons. Not only he was a skilled painter, but more importantly he succeeded, more than his contemporary colleagues, to create a personal, distinct style, without abandoning the core elements of Byzantine tradition. In fact, his style ranges from the most academic Cretan to the fashionable, mixed style of the time, which combined the Byzantine principles with elements of the Italian Renaissance, apparently adjusting to the requests of patrons. Particularly noteworthy is the artist’s capacity for visual inventions that not only enriched the traditional iconography but also created completely new compositions of almost historical character.