Sacrifice of Isaac: an angel presses against the dagger-bearing arm of Abraham, who stands next to Isaac on an altar, God the Father and an angel bearing a lamb approach from the left 1645 - 1650

Pietro Testa etched this Sacrifice of Isaac on a sheet sometime in the mid-17th century. Here, divine intervention halts a father's obedient, yet agonizing, sacrifice of his son. The angel's hand, a symbol of divine mercy, prevents Abraham from fulfilling God’s command. The motif of the averted sacrifice appears across cultures—the animal substitute, the divine reprieve—echoing in pagan rituals and myths. Consider the lamb offered in Isaac's stead, a symbol of innocence and redemption, which finds a parallel in the sacrificial rituals of ancient Greece. The emotional intensity—Abraham's inner turmoil, Isaac's resignation—engages our subconscious, tapping into primal fears and moral dilemmas. The image is not merely a depiction, but an activation of collective memory. Notice how it resurfaces, reshaped, in Goya’s Saturn devouring his son, reflecting our ever-evolving anxieties.