Jacob and His Twelve Sons at the Meadows Museum

Jacob And His Twelve Sons
Meadows Museum

Recently, the Meadows Museum, located on the SMU campus, had an exciting exhibit on display in one of the upper galleries. It was titled "Zurbaran: Jacob And His Twelve Sons".

The 13 paintings were by Francisco de Zurbaran, a Spanish painter who made the majority of his living painting religious paintings for monastic orders. But as often happens, painters fall out of favor, as did Francisco.  So in 1647 he began painting for the Spanish speaking colonies of South America. Of those early exported paintings, one is currently in Lima, Peru and the other is in Puebla, Mexico.

Francisco del Zurbaran
1598-1664

The collection is described in the Meadows exhibit pamphlet as follows:

In creating one of his most monumental series Spanish Golden Age master Francisco de Zurbaran (1598-1664), was inspired by the Biblical text Genesis 49, in which Jacob, Patriarch of the Israelites, gathers his twelve sons and delivers a prophetic blessing for each one. "Jacob And His Twelve Sons" consists of a total of thirteen canvases with all but one remaining in the collection of a single owner at Auckland Castle, County Durham, since 1756.  This is the first time the majority of the paintings in this exhibition will be presented in America - indeed it is the first time any such series of paintings by Zurbaran has been presented as a whole in the United States.

Auckland Castle

The paintings are rather large and absolutely beautiful. They are not displayed in birth order, but each painting has the name of the subject written at the bottom of the painting along with their order of birth.  Also, he painted each of them with symbols representing their Blessing from Jacob as noted in Genesis 49.  A few examples:

Reuben, the oldest, is painted in a noble costume.

Simon is portrayed as an uncivilized man in animal skins and armed with a sword and 

a club-like stick.

Issachar, who seems to be the most humble of the brothers, is portrayed as a farm worker.

Jacob, a favorite of course, is shown in very rich attire.

Jacob himself, is painted all bent over with a long greying beard.

Jacob

What a wonderful and exciting exhibit. The Travelling Toe and Dear Friend were so happy that we were able to enjoy this extraordinary exhibit.  It was worth the trip even dodging all the road construction along the Dallas freeways!

Meadows Museum