Drawing by Elbert Weinberg depicting the biblical story of the Sacrifice of Isaac. Two male figures stand facing each other in a rocky landscape. The man at the right leans on his staff. The man at the left rests one hand on the neck of an animal and gesticulates with the other. An animal is on a mountaintop in the background. According to the account in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac. As Abraham raised his knife to kill the boy, an angel appeared and told him not to harm him, producing a ram to be sacrificed instead. Weinberg depicted the subject in drawings, prints, and sculptures throughout his career. This drawing is very closely related to a color linoleum cut that probably dates from the 1980s. The Elbert Weinberg Collection in the Hartford History Center at the Hartford Public Library includes the original linoleum blocks for this print and a series of progressive proofs taken from the blocks. The drawing is in Sketchbook No. 12, folio 53r. The inside front cover of the sketchbook is inscribed “ELBERT WEINBERG / 427 CHURCH ST. APT. 208 / HARTFORD, CONN.”
