[1][2] It was about the beginning of the 1540s that Titian received commissions for a great number of pictures from the brothers of the church of Santo Spirito, who possessed the work of his early career, the San Marco Enthroned.

[3] Georg Gronau writes of these three pictures collectively: We shall easily perceive the connection between these subjects; all are scenes fitted to display passionate movement, and in each there are only a few—two or three—figures.

The surroundings are almost the same in all three pictures—brown soil, rocky cliffs; we feel ourselves transported to mountain heights; above and behind the figures the sky is gloomy and heavy with clouds.

There we see the tall, erect form of Abraham in twofold action—his left- hand rests on the neck of the boy who is kneeling on the pile of wood, his right hand brandishes the sacrificial knife, and at the same time he turns right round to the angel who has stayed his movement, light across the whole of the third picture lies aslant the body of the giant; over him stands the boy David, who raises his arms in gratitude to Heaven; a ray of sunshine breaks through the heavy clouds.For grandeur of conception Titian here—if anywhere—approaches Michelangelo.

… [T]he "Sacrifice of Isaac"—the Divine reward of unquestioning faith—is brightened by changeful lights, which shine on the edges of the clouds and blend together the central point—Abraham's robe, of deep orange colour—with the reddish-violet to the right and the grey-blue in the left-hand comer.