Editor: Chiara Petrolini – Image Gallery
The Sacrifice of Isaac (1480-1490)
from: Vita Christi [Getty Museum, Ms. 101, fol. 11, England]
Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Sacrificial instruments of the Israelites (1784)
from: Dandré-Bardon, Michel François, Costume des anciens peuples, a l'usage des artistes / par M. Dandré Bardon ; contenant les usages religieux, civils, domestiques & militaires des Grecs, des Romains, des Israélites & des Hébreux, des Egyptiens, des Perses, des Scythes, des Amazones, des Parthes, des Daces, des Sarmates & autres peuples tant orientaux qu'occidentaux, Paris, A. Jombert, 1784-1786, vol. 3
Les Lévites se nourriront des sacrifices (1538)
from: Holbein, Hans, Les simulachres & historiees faces de la mort, autant elegamment pourtraictes, que artificiellement imaginées, Lyon, Melchior and Gaspar Trechsel [for Jean and François Frellon], 1538
Louvre, Paris
Elijah's Sacrifice (1863)
Bury Art Museum
Animal Sacrifice and Pouring out the victim's blood (1491)
from: Stephan Fridolin, Der Schatzbehalter, Nuremberg, Koberger, November 18, 1491, fol. 24r
British Museum, London
Martyrs of Japan (1627/28)
British Museum
German broadsheet showing pilgrims visiting the relics of Simon, in a position known as victima. Bound with the account of Matthia Tiberino [description provided by Magda Teter] (1475)
from: Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, Rar. 338
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Abraham's Sacrifice (1600?-1650?)
from: Mîr Hwând, Rawzat al-safâ (Le lieu de repos des Purs) [Suppl. Persan 1567, fol. 50v]
BNF
A scene with fakirs and ritualistic animal sacrificeFaquires Bequedes Mahometans (1678-1686)
from: Nicolo Manucci, Histoire de l'Inde depuis Tamerlank jusquà Orangzeb [ms Libro Rosso, fol. 50v]
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
Abraham's Sacrifice (XVII)
Metropolitan Museum, New York
Sacrifice of Isaac, with captions in Ashkenazi square script. Isaac is kneeling on the altar, Abraham is lifting the knife, but an angel prevents him from hurting his son by grabbing his knife. The same angel points to the ram caught in a bush on the left. Beneath, at the foot of the mountain, the two servants, the donkey and a dog are resting in a field (1460)
from: Add. MS 14759 fol. 1v
British Library, London
Noah preparing his first sacrifice after the Flood (1700-1760)
Wellcome Collection, London
Aeneas Offers Sacrifice to the Gods of the Lower World (1530-1540)
from: Vergil, Aeneid, edited by Sebastian Brant and printed by Johann Grüninge (Limoges, France)
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore
The building for King Dasaratha's sacrifice (Mughal India) (1594)
from: Miniature (35.4 x 21cm), fol. 27r
Christie's, London
Two boys preparing to sacrifice a young buffalo, Vārānasi , India (1920)
Yale University Library
In the palace, Rāvaṇa and his remaining brothers and sons are bowed down by grief and Rāvaṇa wonders how he can ever be victorious in this conflict, when so many demon champions have been slain. Another son, Indrajit, boasts that he will overcome Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa and sets out in his chariot, surrounded by other demons on elephants, horses and in chariots. In a separate chamber (the text actually says on the battlefield), he prepares offerings, seizing a young black goat by the neck, to the god of Fire in order to conjure up his most magical weapons and to make himself invisible. (ca 1653)
from: Ramayana [ms Add. 15297(1), fol. 97]
British Library, London [from Udaipur]
The inspired Christian author surrounded by heresies and idolatrous sacrifices (1668)
from: Frontispiece of: Alexander Ross/Albert Reimer [Übers.]: Der gantzen Welt Religionen oder Beschreibung aller Gottes- und Götzendienste wie auch Ketzereyen in Asia, Africa, America und Europa, Amsterdam: Joach. Nosche, 1668
Universität Heidelberg
Jephte sacrifices his daughter (1493)
from: Cest le mirouer de la redempcion humaine (GW M4304210), Fol, f4r [Paris]
Stabi, Berlin
The sacrifice of the Feast of Tabernacles (1746)
from: Histoire universelle, depuis le commencement du monde, jusqu’à présent, Volume 7, published Amsterdam: Arkstée et Merkus, 1742-1782.
Lowcountry Digital Library, College of Charleston Libraries
The Adoration of the Lamb - The Song of the Elect (1511)
Louvre, Paris
Manner in which the Women in India Burn (1728)
from: Picart, B. Ceremonies et Coutumes Religieuses des Peuples Idolatres, tome II, Amsterdam, 1728
London, Wellcome Collection
The Sacrifice of Isaac (1218)
from: Psalter of Queen Ingeborg (Paris)
Chantilly, Musee Conde, Ms.9, folio 11r
Tripod vessel with baby jaguar sacrifice scene (650–750)
Princeton University Art Museum
The Sacrifice of Lystra (1529-1530)
Getty Museum, Los Angeles
This mandala is devoted to the solar deity Surya. In the lower register a Vajracharya priest at left performs a fire sacrifice and the repentant donor at center undergoing some form of exorcism accompanied by musicians while his family observes. [1379]
from: Nepal, Kathmandu Valley (Kitaharasa Period: Early Malla period Date)
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sacrifice of leopards was the prerogative of the king. Captured leopards were sacrified at the annual Igue ceremony. (16th-17th)
from: Benin City, Nigeria [Benin Brass Plaques]
Scene of worship and human sacrifice at a native American or Mexican temple (1691)
from: Antonio de Solís y Rivadeneira, Histoire de la conquête du Mexique, ou de la Nouvelle Espagne, Paris, Boudot, 1691. p. 275
Woman Committing Sati (17th century)
Harvard Art Museum, Boston (https://harvardartmuseums.org/art/165399)
A Human Sacrifice, in a Morai, in Otaheite (1785)
from: Cook, James - King, James (1785) Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, undertaken by the Command of His Majesty, for making discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. Performed under the direction of Captains Cook, Clerke and Gore, in His Majesty's ships the Resolution and Discovery , in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779 and 1780. In three volumes. and a fourth folio volume with engravings, known as Atlas
British Museum, London
Scapegoat sent to the wilderness where five wild beasts are waiting to devour it, and secondly the sacrifice of an ox (1491)
from: Stephan Fridolin, Der Schatzbehalter, Nuremberg, Koberger, November 18, 1491, fol. 23v
British Museum, London
Suttee. Gouache painting by a painter of Thanjavur (Tanjore) [1800]
from: Tanjore
London, Wellcome Collection
Agnus Dei. (1635-1640)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
(1729)
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Aaron and his sons sacrificing a ram, as described in Exodus 29:13-22 (1731)
from: Scheuchzer, Johann Jakob, Physica Sacra (Kupfer-Bibel), Augsburg and Ulm, Christian Ulrich Wagner, 1731-1735, vol. 2, p. 324
Lowcountry Digital Library
The Sacrifice of Isaac (1627)
from: Sefer Evronot Manuscript (from Frankfurt am Main)
Hebrew Union College Library, ms. 901, fol. 32v
Musei Borgiani Velitris. Tab I. Pictura exhibens sacrificium solis. Tav. II Pictura Indica autographa exhibens holocaustum ignis (1791)
from: Paulinus a S. Bartholomaeo, Systema Brahmanicum liturgicum, mythologicum, civile, Rome 1791
New York Public Library
Immolation of a Hindoo Widow (1814)
from: Lester. The Gallery of Nature and Art, 1814
London, Wellcome Collection
Sacrificial Knife, Zoomophic Handle [1300-1521]
Museo delle Civilità/MPE Pigorini inv. 4215
Title page of Mizbeah olah, seu de ara exteriore templi secundi exercitationes philologicae (1697)
from: Cramer, Johannes-Jacobus,
Purported Martyrdom of Simon of Trent (1505-1515)
Museo Diocesano Tridentino, Trento - Tridentine Diocesan Museum, Trent
The martyrdom of Simon of Trent; a small child tied to a pole with two men cutting his skin while another holds a bowl underneath the boy's feet to collect the blood; illustration to Jacobus de Voragine, 'Passionael efte dat levent der hyllighten', Basel: Adam Petri, 1517. (1517)
from: Jacobus de Voragine, Passionael efte dat levent der hyllighten', Basel, Adam Petri, 1517
British Museum
The Circumcision of Christ (1600-1610)
from: Netherland. Series: The early life of Christ
British Museum, London
Hanuman and the monkeys assault the demons, forcing Indrajita to break off the sacrifice that would make him invincible (1597-1605)
from: The Ramayana (Tales of Rama; The Freer Ramayana), Volume 2
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
A Portugese Jewish circumcision ceremony (1714)
from: Picart, Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde
Wellcome Collection, London
The Mass at Bolsena (1512)
Stanza di Eliodoro, Raphael Rooms, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
Cain killing Abel, besides Cain and Abel sacrificing (1456)
from: Speculum humanae salvationis, Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. 81.15, fol. 34r
Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel
P. Ignatius Azevedius S. I. Illustrissimâ Lusitaniae familiâ oriundus, in itinere Brasilo à Calvinistis pro Catholica Religione mari demers[us] A. 1570 15 Julij. Ignatius de Azevedo stands pierced by a sword and holding the Salus Populi Romani Madonna. Brazil, 1570 (1675)
from: Tanner, Mathias, Societas Iesu usque ad sanguinis et vitae profusionem militans, Typis Universitatis Carolo-Ferdinandeae in Collegio Societatis Jesu ad S. Clementem, Prague 1675, p. 167
John Carter Brown Library at Brown University
Le sacrifice humain allait s'accomplir (1857)
BnF, Gallica
(1549)
from: The Story of Samson, Hand-colored engravings (Netherlands)
The Metropolitan Art Museum, New York
Scene of a sati. In the foreground, a widowed woman (encountered by Della Valle on November 12, 1623) on horseback holds a mirror and a lemon amidst a crowd. In the background, a woman throws herself into the flames of a funeral pyre (1665)
from: Della Valle, Pietro, De volkome beschryving der voortreffelijke reizen van de deurluchtige reisiger Pietro della Valle, edelman van Romen, in veel voorname gewesten des werrelts, sedert het jaer 1615, tot in 't jaar 1626 gedaan. Amsterdam, Abraham Wolfgang, 1666, vol. 5, pag. 163
Barbaric Sacrifice of the Mexicans (1770)
from: Jean-François de La Croix, Dictionnaire historique des cultes religieux établis dans le monde depuis son origine jusqu'à présent... - Paris : Vincent, 1770, vol. 3, part. 2, p. 42
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
Tikkun Kriah le-Kol Leilah ve-Yom (Prayer Book) (1666)
The Center for Jewish Art
The preparation for the Passover festival: heep are slaughtered for Passover and a man purifies utensils in a cauldron over a fire (c. 1320)
from: Golden Haggadah (northern Spain)
London, British Library, Add 27210, fol. 15r
The Sacrifice of Isaac (15th)
from: Marco Polo, Livre des merveilles ; Odoric de Pordenone, Itinerarium de mirabilibus orientalium Tartarorum, traduit en français par Jean le Long ; Guillaume de Boldensele,Liber de quibusdam ultramarinis partibus et praecipue de Terra sancta, traduit en français par Jean Le Long et Lettres adressées au pape et réponse de Benoît XII, traduit en français par Jean Le Long ; De l’estat et du gouvernement du grant Kaan de Cathay, empereur des Tartares, traduit en français par Jean Le Long ; Jean de Mandeville, Voyages; Hayton, Fleur des estoires de la terre d’Orient ; Riccoldo da Monte di Croce,Liber peregrinationis, traduit en français par Jean Le Long (France)
Paris, BnF, Français 2810, fol. 167
I diecimila martiri del monte Ararat (1574)
from: Fondazione Federico Zeri
Chiesa di Santo Spirito, Firenze
The Sacrifice of Isaac (1650-1653)
Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen
Le Culte des Hommes (The Worship of Men), from Les Sacrifices (The Sacrifices) (1625-1627)
from: http://ark.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb42582956v
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Sacrifice of Isaac
Christie's, London
Photograph shows the Kapparot. Two girls and a boy reading from a book; each girl is holding a hen as a man holds a rooster over the head of the boy. (1901)
from: Photographic prints
Library of Congress, Washington DC
Depiction of a satī on a map. A horned figure standing by a woman burning on a pyre (1522)
from: Claudii Ptolemaei... [Maps.C.1.d.11]
British Library, London
The sacrifice of Isaac. Isaac carries the wood to Moriah [1415]
from: Provinzialbibliothek - Speculum humanae salvationis, 2 Ms. 46, fol. 55v
Provinzialbibliothek, Amberg
the young Hindu woman accompanies her bridegroom's coffin to the funeral pyre and decides to commit sati (1657)
from: Walters manuscript W.649 (Burning and Melting)
The Walters Art Museum
Oliver Cromwell between Two Pillars (above, The Sacrifice of Isaac) (1658)
Royal Collection Trust
Deities and Demons Performing the Yajna Sacrifice from the Devi Mahatmya (18th)
from: India, Rajput
Princeton University Art Museum
Sacrificial Knife (1648)
from: Aldrovandi, Ulisse, Musaeum metallicum, Bologna, 1648, p. 158
[The adoration of the Lamb (?)] (1491)
from: Stephan Fridolin, Der Schatzbehalter, Nuremberg, Koberger, November 18, 1491, fol. 27v
The British Museum, London
The Sacrifice of Isaac
from: Ancient mosaic pavement from the 6th century, Beit Alfa Synagogue
Beit Alfa Synagogue, Beit She'an (near to), Israel
The martyrdom of Michael Nacascima by scalding in boiling water in Japan on December 25, 1628 (1675)
from: Tanner, Mathias, Societas Iesu usque ad sanguinis et vitae profusionem militans, Typis Universitatis Carolo-Ferdinandeae in Collegio Societatis Jesu ad S. Clementem, Prague 1675, p. 333
The sacrifice to Iphigenia (1553)
Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett
Human Sacrifice to Vitzilipuztli (1745)
from: Prévost, Antoine François, Histoire générale des voyages, ou Nouvelle collection de toutes les relations de voyages par mer et par terre qui ont été publiées jusqu'à présent dans les différentes langues, Paris, Didot, 1754, vol. 12, p. after 544
Martyrdom of Fray Francisco Lopez who stands before a group of native Americans who have shot him and six other Franciscans with arrows. The other Franciscans are Juan de Padilla, Antonio de Cuellar, Alois de Villa[lobos], Pedro Burgos, Francisco Donzelis, and Juan Serrano (1625)
from: Marianus, de Orscelar, Gloriosus Franciscus rediuiuus siue Chronica observantae strictioris ... eiusdemque per Christianos orbes, non solùm, sed & Americam, Peru, ... Indos Orientis, Ingolstadt, Wilhelmi Ederi, 1625, p. 330
John Carter Brown Library at Brown University
The woodcut on the title page of Dye histori depicts the martyrdom of Heinrich Voes and Johann van Esschen (1523). The image shows the two Augustinian monks tied to stakes amidst flames, symbolizing their execution by fire (1523)
from: Dye histori so zwen Augustiner Ordens gemartert seyn tzu Bruxel in Probant von wegen des Evangeli
Satyrs offering a sacrifice to Pan (1510)
Pinacoteca di Brera, Milano
The Sacrifice of Isaac (1759-1760)
from: Hodowica, Ukraine [at the time: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
The martyrdom of Jan van Essen and Hendrik Voes (1563)
from: Foxe’s Book of Martyrs
Candrahasa sacrifices himself cutting off pieces of his own flesh and putting them on the fire [1598]
from: Razmnāmah by Abhinanda, India (The last volume of the Persian translation of the Mahābhārata commissioned in 990 by Akbar)
London, British Library, Or 12076 folio: 90v
Le grand sacrifice des Canadiens à Quitchi-Manitou ou le Grand Esprit (1723)
from: Picart, Bernard. Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses de tous les peuples du monde: représentées par des figures, deel III. Amsterdam: Jean Frédéric Bernard, 1723-1743
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Rāma sends out his entire army, headed by Lakṣmaṇa and Vibhīṣaṇa, to fight Indrajit at the Nikumbhilā grove, where he is performing more magical sacrifices. Indrajit is sacrificing to the fire again with a black goat, while around him a furious battle is raging between Lakṣmaṇa and his allies and the other demons. Vibhīṣaṇa has advised Rāma to send Lakṣmaṇa to finish off Indrajit at the place where he is performing his magical arts, before he can make himself even more powerful. Inscribed above Indrajit: Iṃdrajit. (ca 1653)
from: Ramayana [ms Add. 15297(1), fol. 115]
British Library, London [from Udaipur]
Sacrifice of Isaac (1637)
from: Istituto Centrale per la Grafica
Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe, Fondo Corsini; volume 58N13
Buddha explaining the correct sacrifices according to the Veda. The story of Kalki, the destruction of the tyrants, and the Indian representation of the Buddha and the avatara of Kalki. [1774]
from: Rites and Beliefs of the Hindus [Indian Company Paintings]
London, V&A Museum
Petrus Correa et Joannes Sosa.’ Pero Correia and João de Sousa are pierced by arrows in Brazil in 1554 (1675)
from: Tanner, Mathias, Societas Iesu usque ad sanguinis et vitae profusionem militans, Typis Universitatis Carolo-Ferdinandeae in Collegio Societatis Jesu ad S. Clementem, Prague 1675, p. 438
John Carter Brown Library at Brown University
Opfer an Priapus (1493-1497)
from: Buchprojekt des Titels Archetypus triumphantis Romae[Germany]
Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kupferstichkabinett, Inv. 183-1920
Handprints of women who committed sati
Wall of the Junagarh Fort (Bikaner, Rajasthan, India)
Sacrifice of Birds and Fat (1731)
from: Scheuchzer, Johann Jakob, Physica Sacra (Kupfer-Bibel), Augsburg and Ulm, Christian Ulrich Wagner, 1731-1735, vol. 2, p. 380, Tafel 224 (ZB III ZZ 55) Illustriert Lev 1,8-14
Zürich, ZB, Graphische Sammlung, Füssli J.M. Phys. Sac. ZEI 64 / emanuscripta