He sleeps on the ground with his head on a stone and his staff beside him.
Bible in art · Genesis
Jacob's Dream
Gustave Doré · 1866 (designs for La Sainte Bible, Tours); this printing 1873–1874
National Library of Poland, Warsaw
Doré turns the ladder of the dream into a broad stairway of light climbing into the sky. In the wood block the stairs and the crowd of angels are cut in pale lines, so that they look almost transparent beside the dark tree and the sleeping man.
Jacob lies in the lower left corner with a stone under his head and his staff beside him. Dozens of winged figures in long robes go up and down the stairs. At the top, in a burst of rays, sits a small robed figure.
From the text
- Jacob “put it under his head and lay down to sleep” (Genesis 28:11)
- “God’s angels were going up and down the ladder” (Genesis 28:12)
- At the top “the LORD was standing” (Genesis 28:13)
The artist’s own
- A wide stone staircase instead of a ladder
- The figure at the top seated in a glory of rays, while the text says he was standing
- A great tree and leafy plants around a place the text calls only “a certain place”
Details
Jacob
The stairway
A broad flight of steps rises from the ground to the sky.
The angels
Winged figures in long robes come down the stairs.
At the top
A small robed figure sits in a burst of rays.
Gustave Doré, French, 1832–1883. National Library of Poland (Biblioteka Narodowa), Warsaw — «Pismo Święte Starego i Nowego Testamentu», vol. 1, Warsaw: M. Glücksberg, 1873 (acc. 75.267 A), tabl. 21 · Wood engraving after Gustave Doré’s design · National Library of Poland (Polona): the record of the volume gives the licence «Domena Publiczna» (Public Domain), «copyrightProtected»: false; the scan was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons by the library itself («Polona Upload», GLAM-Wiki partnership: “This file was uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as part of a GLAM-Wiki partnership between the National Library of Poland and Wikimedia Polska”), linking its Polona record.