Isaac Blessing Jacob

Govert Flinck · c. 1638
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Govert Flinck painted this canvas in Amsterdam about 1638, when he was in his early twenties and had recently left Rembrandt’s studio. The likeness of style is close: in a sale of 1758 the picture was still offered as a Rembrandt.

Old Isaac sits up in bed, wrapped in a fur-lined red robe, and lays his hand on Jacob’s gloved hand. Jacob looks up at him anxiously; Rebekah, behind the bed, watches with a slight smile. The roast that was brought to him waits on a plate at the left.

From the text

Isaac, old and unable to see, asking which son is before him (Genesis 27:1, 27:18)

Jacob’s hands covered with goatskins, so that they feel like Esau’s (Genesis 27:16, 27:22)

The tasty food Rebekah prepared (Genesis 27:17)

Rebekah, who planned it all (Genesis 27:6–10)

The artist’s own

The goatskins shown as dark, rough gloves

Isaac’s red robe with fur and gold braid, rich dress of Flinck’s day

Rebekah standing behind the bed — the text does not say she was in the room

A striped cloth, perhaps Jacob’s turban, lying in the foreground

Details

Feeling the hands

Isaac’s hand rests on Jacob’s, which is covered by a dark, rough glove.

A raised hand

Isaac’s other hand is lifted near Jacob’s head.

Rebekah

The mother watches from behind the bed with a faint smile.

Jacob

The young man looks up at his father with wide, anxious eyes.

The meal

A roast bird on a plate and a glass on the white cloth.

A rich robe

Red cloth lined with brown fur and trimmed with gold braid.

In the foreground

A striped bundle of cloth, perhaps a turban, catches the light.

Govert Flinck, Dutch, 1615–1660. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (SK-A-110) · Oil on canvas · Image: "Public Domain" (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/); object metadata: CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) — Rijksmuseum Linked Art record.

The verses

Gen 27:18–27So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?” Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.” But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?” “Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied. Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?” So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him. Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he replied, “I am.” “Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.” Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank. Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.” So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.