''Isaac and Jacob'' is an oil on canvas painting by

Jusepe de Ribera Jusepe de Ribera (; baptised 17 February 1591 – 3 November 1652) was a Spanish painter and Printmaking, printmaker. Ribera, Francisco de Zurbarán, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and the singular Diego Velázquez, are regarded as the major artist ...

, executed in 1637, which since 1918 has been in the

Prado Museum The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th century, based on ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

History

Nothing is known about who commissioned the painting for the Royal Collections, but in 1734 the work was in the

Royal Alcázar of Madrid The Royal Alcázar of Madrid (Spanish: ''Real Alcázar de Madrid'') was a fortress located at the site of today's Royal Palace of Madrid, Madrid, Spain. The structure was originally built in the second half of the ninth century by the Muslims, ...

, possibly in the Hall of Mirrors, from which it had to be moved due to a fire that occurred in that year. It then went to the Royal Palace where it remained until after the War of Independence, when it was taken to the San Fernando Academy to finally move to the Prado Museum in 1854.

Description and style

The painting represents what is described in Genesis (27, 1-29), when Jacob, helped by his mother Rebekah, deceives his blind father Isaac to receive the blessing meant for his older brother, Esau. To carry out the deception, Jacob covers one arm with a sheepskin, imitating the hairy arms of his brother. In the work, which all critics consider one of Ribera's most mature, we see the half-length characters, with Isaac lying on the bed feeling his arm, Jacob sitting on the bed and the mother, with a Vélazquez inspired look, encouraging her child to cheat. On the left we also see Esau returning from hunting. Ribera creates an almost theatrical scene where with his chromatic skill and the marvelous use of a vibrant light he manages to make us feel the environment, almost touch the objects and transmit the touch of the fabrics, of the sheepskin and give the faces of the characters an amazing naturalism. Remarkable is the still life to the right of the canvas which, although it was a genre that Ribera hardly practiced, was a sure point of reference for the work on this subject by later painters. The point of view of the work, whose focal point is considerably low, and the elongated format of the painting, suggests that it was painted to be viewed from below, perhaps positioned as an over-door or over-window.Spinosa, Nicola, ''Obra pictórica completa de Ribera''. Noguer. 1978 (Spanish) ISBN 8427987676

References

External links

Isaac and Jacob, Prado Museum Online Gallery
{{Museo del Prado Paintings by Jusepe de Ribera in the Museo del Prado 1637 paintings category:Paintings of Rebecca Paintings of Jacob Paintings of Isaac