Follower of Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)
Jacob's Farewell to Benjamin
INV-8763
Follower of Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669)c. 1655
Jacob's Farewell to Benjamin
Follower of Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606–1669) →17th Centuryoil on canvasdutch
Date
c. 1655
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
113 × 110.5 cm (52 9/16 × 43 1/2 in.); Framed: 161 × 139.1 × 8.6 cm (63 3/8 × 54 3/4 × 3 3/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Wilson L. Mead Fund
This scene of kinship between men has been interpreted as the biblical figure Jacob granting permission to his youngest son, Benjamin, to travel with his brothers to Egypt. The artist, an unknown follower of Rembrandt van Rijn, conveyed Jacob’s ambivalent emotional state by presenting the boy with his back to the viewer. Rembrandt and his followers treated this subject many times, as the Protestant art market in the Dutch Republic valued scenes of faith and loyalty but lacked the Catholic interest in martyrdom.
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