33 - Workshop of Willem VAN HERP (1614–1677), after Artus WOLFFORT

Workshop of Willem VAN HERP (1614–1677), after Artus WOLFFORT The Blessing of Jacob Oil on copper, mounted on a stretcher. (Restorations and small losses in the lower right corner.) Height: 37 cm; Width: 54 cm Later gilded wooden frame. Based on the painting by Artus Wolffort (Wolfaert) housed at the Villa Vauban, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Luxembourg, which was reproduced in several versions with variations by Willem van Herp and his workshop. Before his death, Isaac, son of Abraham, wishes to restore Esau’s birthright, which he had ceded to his twin brother Jacob in exchange for a bowl of lentils. His wife Rebecca urges Jacob, her favorite son, to quickly prepare a final meal and receive the blessing in his place. The artist scrupulously follows the biblical story in which Jacob wraps animal skins around his hands to make his blind father believe that his hands are hairy like his brother’s, who had gone hunting to bring him game.