Currently not on view
Meeting of Jacob and Esau,
1594
Stories from the Book of Genesis provided seventeenth-century Dutch artists with engrossing, instructive narratives. The emotional meeting of the brothers Jacob and Esau after a twenty-year estrangement is a good example. This paragon of fraternity illustrates a moment of healing and an instance of exemplary behavior which had required faith and trust in God to achieve.
This painting and Israelites Crossing the Red Sea share a history as far back as 1788, when they were in “a private contract sale” in England. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that they were conceived as pendants. The similarities in dimension might be explained by the fact that seventeenth-century panels were produced in standard sizes. Many of Cornelis’s paintings from about 1594 share an oblong format, which was well suited to narrative works with numerous figures. The similarity in their style—smaller panels, less exaggerated musculature of the figures, and warmer, less acidic coloring—is due to their simultaneous production and broadly describes Cornelis’s later works.
More Context
Campus Voices
<p>Jacob is a principal figure to a fledgling Dutch national identity that drew analogies from Old Testament stories. Cornelis depicts him clasping the knee of Esau in the Greek ritual act of supplication, yet simultaneously locked in fraternal embrace, defining their complex relationship. The sons of Jacob kneel with hands raised, echoing his appeal for forgiveness. To a contemporary audience, the exotic costume and landscape would evoke a distant biblical past. Some motifs like the antique plumed helmets depend on earlier depictions, whereas others, like the hairiness of Esau relative to Jacob, seem to directly reference scripture. </p><p><em><strong>Sijbren Kramer, Class of 2024</strong></em></p>
Information
1594
- Old masters and the modern environment, (Chicago?: Richard Feigen Gallery, 1972)., Cat. no. 11 (checklist added to the Chicago catalogue)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1974", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 33, no. 1 (1974): p. 37-47., p. 38; p. 39 (illus.)
- Anne Walter Lowenthal, "Three Dutch Mannerist paintings", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 36, no. 1 (1977): p. 12-21., p. 12-21; fig. 2
- Frima Fox Hofrichter, Haarlem: the seventeenth century: [exhibition]: The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, February 20-April 17, 1983, (New Brunswick, NJ: Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, 1983)., cat. no. 28; p. 72-73 (illus.)
- Julie L. McGee, Cornelis Corneliszoon van Haarlem (1562-1638): patrons, friends, and Dutch humanists, (Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1991)., p. 438, fig. 45; p. 188
- P.J.J. van Thiel, Cornelis Cornelisz van Haarlem, 1562-1638: a monograph and catalogue raisonné, (Doornspijk: Davaco, 1999)., cat no. 10; pl. 96; p. 113, 194, 295 (illus.)
