Religion: ‘Isaac Blessing Jacob’—a 1638 oil painting by Dutch artist Govert Flinck.

In a famous scene from the Hebrew Bible, or Christian Old Testament, Isaac—the only son of Abraham and Sarah— blesses his younger son Jacob from his deathbed.

Now Isaac is old and blind, and thinks he is blessing his elder son, Esau. Jacob has covered his hands in goatskin in imitation of his hirsute brother Esau to trick his father. Jacob’s mother, Rebecca, looks on anxiously. She is an accomplice to Jacob’s scheme. To win over her son’s heart, Rebecca has prepared a meal of goat meat for him. It lies on a table behind them.

Govert Flinck (1615-60) was a student of Rembrandt until 1636 when he moved toward another mentor, Rembrandt’s rival Van der Helst.

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Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

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Pictures From History