2-975-585 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, 1639. The physical act of the angel dislocating Jacob’s hip as described in the Bible is emphasized in the Rijksmuseum painting by the angel’s left leg, which is flung forcefully around Jacob, whose hat has fallen to the ground. The stick next to Jacob’s coat in the left foreground might refer to the previous episode, when Jacob prayed to God, saying that at his first crossing of the river he only had his staff and now he had become two bands.