The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 7, 2026

A vertically oriented black ink engraving depicts four people with light skin tones. On our right, Abraham kneels on rocky ground, back turned. Three winged angels in draping robes stand before him; one gazes down centrally while two others cluster on the left. Behind them, a tree grows in the upper left, and a craggy cliff on the right features a small stone structure marked with the letter L.

Abraham and the Angels

1513

Lucas van Leyden

(Netherlandish, 1494–about 1533)
Netherlands
engraving
Image: 17.8 x 14 cm (7 x 5 1/2 in.)
Gift of Edward Olszewski 2025.186
Catalogue raisonné: New Hollstein (Dutch & Flemish) 15
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Lucas van Leyden was an innovator in the medium of engraving, inventing new strategies for modeling shadow by cutting curved parallel lines and then adding shorter lines in between, as seen on the angel’s knee.

Description

Lucas van Leyden’s subject derives from Genesis 18, when Abraham met three angelic figures as they walked across the plains of Mamre. Abraham invited them to rest under a tree, seen in the left background, where he would later receive news from the Lord that his wife Sarah would bear a son. Van Leyden depicted Abraham kneeling before three standing figures and placed a walking stick in the hand of one of the angels to identify them as travelers. The compact composition and delicate textures, such as the angels’ wings, are typical of the artist's engraving technique.
  • {{cite web|title=Abraham and the Angels|url=false|author=Lucas van Leyden|year=1513|access-date=07 June 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2025.186