Issachar, son of Jacob
Early Finales del siglo XVII - XVIII century. Oil on canvas.Not on display
This painting belongs to a series dedicated to the Patriarchs of Israel, sons of Jacob. The name of each one of them appears in the upper right part of the painting, preceded by the letter T, which stands for Tribe, and followed by the number that would correspond to each one according to his order of birth. The collection comes from the donation that the Duchess of Pastrana made to the Museum in 1889 and there are references to this series in the inventories of the Casa del Infantado and Pastrana of the 17th and 18th centuries. The 1738 "Pliego de Inventario de Pinturas para el Vínculo" lists twelve works representing "The twelve tribes of the Hebrew People", which could be these, of which the Museo del Prado has eight.
The iconography of the series comes from Flemish patterns, especially from the engravings made by the Flemish Jaques de Gheyn II (Antwerp, 1565–The Hague, 1629).
