The Sacrifice of Isaac.

Sculpture card: 
-Title: The Sacrifice of Isaac.
-Author: Alonso Berruguete.
-Year: 1526-1532.
-Style: Spanish Mannerism.
-Technique: It is build in wood. The technique that is used is the polychromy, which consists of giving gold leaf to the sculptures and hide it with paint.
-Location: National Museum of Sculpture (Valladolid).
-General description: This sculpture represents Abraham and his son, Isaac. Abraham is going to sacrifice Isaac due to a divine order.


INTRODUCTION
The Sacrifice of Isaac was made by Alonso Berruguete; he was a Spanish painter, sculptor and architect. He is considered the most important sculptor of the Spanish Rennaisance. He went to Italy to continue his study of art and his Italian master was Michelangelo. Other works he did are: Salomé and Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian.
It is a sculpture of Mannerism.
Berruguete made it between 1526 and 1532. In this period, the Mannerism meant the abandonment of harmony and proportion. It was the style after the Rennaisance and before the Baroque. The most important artists are Tintoretto, Bronzino and Cellini.


ANALYISIS
It is built in polychrome wood. It is a free standing figure which belongs to the Retable of Saint Benito. 
We can see that proportions are extended. Berruguete represented the most tense moment, when the father is about to kill his son. The expressivity is very important and we can see that the pain is the expression of the two men. It is realistic. 
The sculpture has light which give it depth.
The subject is the religion:
Abraham had a child, whose name was Isaac. 
God wanted to know if Abraham was obedient and he said that he had to sacrifice his son to prove it.
Abraham did not wanted to sacrifice his son, but he also wanted to obey to God; so he built an altar and when he was about to kill his son, an angel came and told him that he did not have to kill his son because Abraham was obedient and due to this, God loved him. 
This story is represented in the sculpture of Berruguete.


CONCLUSION
The Mannerism is the last part of the Renaissance and it has characteristics of that style but it changed,  preceding a new style, which was the Baroque.
I like it because the expresions are very realistic.