On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01118
- Author
- Ribera, José de (Spanish)
- Title
- Isaac and Jacob
- Chronology
- 1637
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 110 cm x 291 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCIONREAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
This work captures the moment when
Jacob, his arm covered in a kid
skin, pretends to be his hairy
brother Esau in order to receive
the blessings of his aged and blind
father, Isaac. Behind them is
Rebecca, who has planned this
trickery, while the true Esau is in
the background.
This story from Genesis is used by
Ribera to compose a narrative of
trickery and ambition, and he
offers a lesson in mastering
gestures and body expressions.
Under this literal narration lies
the symbolic content, which makes
the work an allegory of the five
senses (touch, vision, hearing,
smell and taste), represented by
the protagonist's acts and the
splendid still life on the table in
the lower right corner of the
painting, which alludes to
taste.
One of Ribera's most ambitious
works, it is also the one that best
reveals his gift for pictorial
narration. It was probably intended
to hang over a door or window and
its presence in Madrid's Alcázar
Palace was documented in 1700. It
remained in the Royal Collection
until it entered the Prado,
although it was at the Academy of
San Fernando between 1816 and
1818.
The work is signed and dated on the
lower right corner.
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