Isaac and Jacob

Isaac and Jacob is an oil on canvas painting by Jusepe de Ribera, executed in 1637, which since 1918 has been in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

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.

[1] 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.

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.