Abraham verstoot Hagar en Ismaël 1637 - 1866

Martinus Johannes Cornelis Weegenaar created this print, "Abraham verstoot Hagar en Ismaël", sometime before his death in 1909, though it's based on an original etching by Rembrandt from 1657. Weegenaar renders a biblical scene laden with the complexities of identity, heritage, and social power. Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, and Ishmael find themselves caught in a narrative web, where race, class, and gender intersect. Hagar, an Egyptian slave, becomes a surrogate for Sarah, who was barren. The child born of this union, Ishmael, is later cast aside to ensure the inheritance of Sarah’s son, Isaac. The print invites us to reflect on the personal and the emotional implications of this story. We are invited to consider how the dynamics of race, class, and gender shape individual experiences and collective memory. It reminds us that the stories we inherit are often filled with the echoes of power struggles, leaving traces of injustice.