Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Wilderness n.d.

Pietro Gualla created this drawing, Angel Appearing to Hagar in the Wilderness, with pen and brown ink, and brown wash. Immediately, you’ll notice the dramatic composition, where the divine and the earthly collide within the energetic lines and contrasting light. Gualla masterfully uses the pen to create a sense of movement and emotion, using hatching and cross-hatching techniques to build up depth and shadow. The angel, rendered with dynamic strokes, seems to descend with an ethereal lightness. Below, Hagar is depicted with fluid lines that express her vulnerability. The artist employs the conventions of religious art. However, the gestural quality destabilizes any fixed meaning. It asks us to question not just the narrative, but also the visual language through which such stories are told. The lack of precise detail invites viewers to engage actively with the drawing, completing the image in their own minds, which turns a biblical scene into a space for questioning faith and the nature of artistic representation.