shuddhi:

Abraham and Isaac

A page from the 12th-century York Psalter (produced c.1170 in the north of England in a stylized but vigorous English Romanesque style). This page illustrates God’s command to Abraham that he sacrifice his only son Isaac. The angel carries God’s message to Abraham in a scroll bearing the words ‘tolle filium tuum quem diligis et offeres’ [‘take your son whom you love and offer him’], as a young Isaac sits at his father’s feet. Below, the angel takes hold of Abraham’s sword in the nick of time and points to the ram caught in the thicket. Top right, the hand of God emerges from a stylized cloud. Abraham clutches by the hair the tiny naked figure of Isaac, who kneels on a draped altar. In its use of a bright gold background and primary colours, with elongated faces and hands, the image shows clear Byzantine influences.

(Source: phassa, via vaxhuvuden)