Lot 176: - Workshop of Jusepe de Ribera, called Lo Spagnoletto , Játiva, Valencia 1591 - 1652 Naples Jacob stealing Esau's Birthright oil on canvas

oil on canvas

measurements note 155.3 by 205.5 cm.; 61 1/8 by 80 7/8 in.

K. Wilczek, Katalog der Graf Czernin 'Schen Gemäldegalerie in Wien, Vienna 1936, p. 74, no. 66;
N. Spinosa, L'Opera Completa del Ribera, Milan 1978, p. 110, no. 111b;
N. Spinosa, Ribera l'opera completa, Naples 2003, p. 302, listed under no. A170 as a workshop copy.

Rudolf, Graf Czernin, 'Schen Gemäldegalerie, Vienna;
His sale, London, Christie's, 24 May 1963, lot 76 for 550 guineas to Hahn;
Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 10 January 1991, lot 52;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Tajan, 24 June 2004, lot 46.

The composition is derived from Ribera's original in the Museo del Prado, Madrid.υ1 When the present painting was sold in 1991 it was seen by Professor Leonard Slatkes who identified it as being by the same hand as an as yet unidentified artist also responsible for the Healing his Father's Blindness sold Sotheby's, New York, 1 June 1990, lot 71 and variously identified as the Master of the Annunciation to the Shepherds and Finoglia. The subject is taken from Genesis 27 when Jacob sought to steal his brother Esau's birthright by tricking his dying father into bestowing his last blessing on him rather than his eldest son. Supported by his mother he disguised himself in Esau's clothing and covered his arm in goat skin so the nearly blind Isaac mistook it for Esau's hirsute limb.

1. See N. Spinosa, Ribera l'opera completa, Naples 2003, p. 302, no. A170.