Abraham Journeying into the Land of Canaan
Gustave Doré, 1866 · Genesis 12:1
The passage
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Genesis 12:1
About this plate
This plate is wider than it is tall, which is rare in the set, and Doré spends the width on sky. Two thirds of it is banded cloud with a low break of light along the horizon. Underneath, a flock of sheep fills the whole foreground.
The people are small. A rider on a camel at the right, wrapped against the weather with a staff across him. Another camel further back. A line of figures strung out along the ridge on the left, walking. Nobody is hurrying.
The verse is a command with the end of it withheld. Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee. Shew thee. Later.
So Doré draws no destination. The horizon is empty, and Abram is not even at the front of his own caravan. He is somewhere in the middle of it, going at the speed of the sheep.
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