Lot 1090 Dα

The subject of this work is taken from the Book of Genesis. After Jacob's firstborn son had received the blessing from his father Isaac, Jacob's twin brother Esau threatened to kill him, upon which Jacob fled to his uncle Laban in Haran and married his two daughters. After around 14 years, he returned to Canaan with his riches and herds. “Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels. And he carried away all his flocks and all his goods which he had gotten, the flocks of his getting which he had gotten in Padanaram, to go to Isaac his father in the land of Canaan” (Gen. 31:17-18).
A version of this composition painted by the Genoese Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664) is now kept in the Prado in Madrid, and a further version in the Escorial. In a letter to the consignor, Timothy J. Standring of Denver, attributes the present work to Castiglione's workshop, whereas Mary Newcome Schleier suggests the painters Giovanni Andrea Podesta and Clemente Bocciardo.