Sacrifice of Isaac

Born in Verona into a family of artists and craftsmen producing silk, tapestries and arms, Ligozzi did most of his painting in Florence. He showed in his works an initial adhesion to a Mannerism of Michelangiolesque stamp, only later to become an interpreter and popularizer of Venetian painting with its emphasis on colour. With this work we are probably at around the halfway stage in the stylistic development of the artist, who has produced here a somewhat complicated and over-emphatic construction, with twisted, elongated figures arranged in a kind of ideal pyramid. The forms are pleasant and accurate, indicative of an excellent `disegno’ - a technique in which Jacopo Ligozzi excelled, together with pastel drawing and tempera - and remarkable compositional balance.