Isaac Blessing Jacob

Govert Flinck, c. 1638

The Bible recounts how Jacob, pretending to be his brother Esau, tricked their blind father into bestowing Esau’s rightful blessing on him. The idea of imitating Esau’s hirsute arms by wearing animal-skin gloves came from their mother Rebecca, who looks on from behind the bed. Flinck derived both this painting technique and narrative style from Rembrandt, by whom he was trained.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-110
  • Dimensionssupport: height 115.2 cm x width 140.2 cm, frame: height 141 cm x width 165.5 cm x depth 10 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on canvas

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Isaac Blessing Jacob

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-110

  • Description

    Isaak zegent Jakob. De oude Isaak zit in bed en geeft zijn zegen aan Jakob, rechts naast het bed staat Rebekka.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    signature and date, upper right, above Isaac’s shoulder (formerly): ‘g flinck 1638’

  • Part of catalogue


Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Govert Flinck

  • Dating

    c. 1638

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on canvas

  • Dimensions

    • support: height 115.2 cm x width 140.2 cm
    • frame: height 141 cm x width 165.5 cm x depth 10 cm

This work is about

  • Subject


Acquisition and rights

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1808

  • Copyright

  • Provenance

    …; ? anonymous sale, Amsterdam (Hendrik de Leth), 17 April 1758, no. 6 (‘De Zegeninge Jacobs, levensgroote half lyf, konstig en kragtig geschildert door Rembrand, hoog 4 voet 1 duim, breed 4 voet 10 duim [115.5 x 139 cm].’), to ‘De Schilder Quinkhart’;{In the copy of the sale catalogue preserved in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, ‘Rembrand’ is crossed out and replaced by ‘G. Flinck’.}...; from Leendert Pieter de Neufville (1729-1811), Rotterdam, fl. 800, to Gerrit van der Pot (1732-1807), Lord of Groeneveld, Rotterdam, 11 January 1786;{_Journaal_ Pot van Groeneveld, 11 January 1786: ‘De zegening van Jacob. Isaac te bed liggende zegent den knielende Jacob etc. Van de Neufville, zeepzieder in den Oliphant te Rotterdam gekogt voor f 800’. For the identification of the collector from whom Van der Pot purchased the painting, see J. Bikker, ‘The Hidden Collection of the Spectacularly Bankrupt Banker Leendert Pieter de Neufville’, _Simiolus_ 36 (2012), pp. 184-209, esp. p. 196.}his sale, Rotterdam (Gebr. Van Ryp), 6 June 1808 _sqq._, no. 37 (‘Hoog 44, en breed 53 duim [115 x 139 cm]. Dk. De Zegening van Jakob door Izaak voorstellende. Men ziet de twijfeling in het gelaat van den Aartsvader, het verlangen van Rebekka, en de begeerte van Jakob, overschoon uitgedrukt. Dit konststuk, alleszins van ordinantie, behandeling en costume in de manier van Rembrand, doet eer aan dezen Meester.’), fl. 1,380, to J.J. de Wit, for the museum{Provenance partially reconstructed in T. Zeedijk, ‘“Tot Voordeel en Genoegen”: De schilderijenverzameling van Gerrit van der Pot van Groenevelt’, _Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum_ 55 (2007), pp. 128-207, esp. pp. 175-76, no. 61.}


Documentation

    • H. Lootsma, 'Tracing a pose: Govert Flinck and the emergence of the van Dyckian mode of portraiture', in: Simiolus 33 (2007/2008), nr. 4, p. 221, afb. 1
    • Bikker, Jonathan, 'The hidden collection of the spectacularly bankrupt banker Leendert Pieter de Neufville', Simiolus 36 (2012), nr. 3/4, p. 197, afb. 24.

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