My son didn’t die, but I am talking about attitude, and you know, the attitude becomes form. The main thing, if you can think of it philosophically, is that nobody asks Isaac what he wants. I would say, nobody asks Isaac, but I would answer maybe, so at least hear him speak, because that’s what Isaac wants. What is most frightening is that in every generation Isaac returns, and is again sacrificed. The ram will triumph over Isaac, the raven over innocence and the vulture over the fallen angel – each embodying the innocent Isaac.

If you look at my work Shalechet (fig. 17) you could also see heads falling down, it is a variation of this idea – Giuseppe Ungaretti once wrote in a poem, «fallen soldiers are like leaves in autumn.» [4] Arturo Schwarz gave me that poem.

T.H.: Talking about your profane interpretation of the Sacrifice of Isaac reminds me of your dialogue with the American sculpture George Segal. You and your son Benjamin modelled for him in 1973, in fact as an Abraham-Isaac-group (fig. 18).