The young Joseph stands in the middle and opens his hands as he speaks.
Bible in art · Genesis
Joseph Telling His Dreams
Rembrandt · 1638
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Rembrandt etched this scene in 1638, five years after his small oil sketch of the same story, also in the app. The etching is livelier and more crowded.
Joseph stands in the middle with his hands open as he tells the dream. His father listens from a chair at the left, a woman sits up in bed behind him, and the brothers press round at the right — some frowning, some laughing, one with a book on his knee.
From the text
- Joseph telling his dreams to his father and brothers (Genesis 37:9–10)
- His father’s rebuke and the brothers’ jealousy (Genesis 37:10–11)
The artist’s own
- A woman in a curtained bed; the text only speaks of “your mother”
- A brother with a book, and a dog asleep at Jacob’s feet
Details
Joseph
Jacob
The old father listens from his chair, his hand on its arm.
In the bed
Behind Jacob a woman sits up in a curtained bed and listens.
The brothers
They lean together, whispering, frowning and smiling.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7198) · Etching · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)