Willem Van Herp Att. 'isaac Blesses Jacob' Oil On Canvas 17th Century

The textiles are recognisable with tactile verisimilitude, the satins are lustrous, the velvets express softness and the white tablecloth expresses the hardness of a starched linen-like fibre that keeps the folds alive and forms the background to a still life detail with the dishes to be blessed placed in the right-hand corner of the painting. If the composition of this moment taken from the Old Testament is already known, certainly the pictorial quality leads to the attribution of a Flemish author who was initially identified as Abram Willemsen but could also be recognised as WILLEM VAN HERP (Antwerp, 1614 - 1677), a painter in the Rubensian tradition, which is also reflected in the main figures and the delightful detail of the dog whose twisting brings attention to Esau arriving on the threshold and in the shadows.

Oil painting on canvas, re-lined in good conservation condition. Measures approx. 190x116 cm, not including frame

Isaac lying in bed blesses Jacob who, disguised in Esau's clothes, brings food to his father;
Jacob's hands and neck are covered with goatskins (Genesis 27:27)