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Jacob wrestling with the angel by Eugène Delacroix

Jacob wrestling with the angel by Eugène Delacroix

Delacroix described this composition: "Left-hand picture. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel. Jacob is bringing the flocks and other gifts by which he hopes to assuage the ire of his brother Esau. A stranger appears who stops him and engages him in a stubborn struggle, which ends only when Jacob, wounded in the tendon of the thigh by his opponent, is made powerless. This struggle is regarded, by Holy Scripture, as a sign of the ordeals that God sometimes visits upon his chosen ones."

Details

Medium
fresco
Dimension
491cm × 758cm
Passage
Genesis 32:22-32

Found in: Genesis, Genesis 32, Jacob and the Angel

Genesis 32:22-32

22 He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok.

23 He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.

24 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.

25 When he saw that he didn’t prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled.

26 The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go, unless you bless me.”

27 He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”.

28 He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”

29 Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why is it that you ask what my name is?” He blessed him there.

30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”

31 The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.

32 Therefore the children of Israel don’t eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

Genesis 32:22-32 · World English Bible

The artist

Eugène Delacroix

Eugène Delacroix

1798 - 1863

Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France

Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix (26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school.

Read more about Eugène Delacroix →

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