Image Details

Dover

Arms upraised in anguish, Hagar awaits the death of her son Ishmael who lies in the wilderness, an empty water jar at his side.

Abraham cast out his son Ishmael and his bondswoman Hagar at his wife Sarah’s instigation. Sarah thus ensured that her son Isaac would be the father of the nation of Israel.

The Bible records, however, that Ishmael is not left to die, but is saved by God to dwell in the wilderness and to become the leader of another great nation.

The French artist Gustave Doré (1832–1883) engraved “Hagar and Ishmael in the Wilderness” and 240 other illustrations for Le Sainte Bible.