2-976-736 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Meeting of Jacob and Esau, c.1610-1620. Upon God’s command Jacob returned to Canaan, the land of his birth, after an absence of 20 years. There he met his brother Esau and his army of 400 men. Jacob was fearful that Esau would take revenge for Jacob’s theft of his birthright and their father’s blessing, but Esau ‘embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept’ (Genesis 33:4). As in the majority of works showing this meeting, Jacob kneels before the helmeted Esau, who embraces him. Jacob’s wives, Lea and Rachel, are also shown kneeling before Esau, while the sheep and goats in the left foreground represent the present Jacob brought his brother.