To test his faith, God asked the patriarch Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, his only son. The painting depicts the moment in which an angel sent by God stops the arm of the old man before he completes his gesture. All the characteristics of the art of Orazio Gentileschi are present here, a Pisan painter capable of transforming the language of Caravaggio into a symphony of crystalline lights and very lively colours. The painter was much appreciated in Genoa, where he lived for a few years and where this painting is documented starting at least from the eighteenth century.