Jakob stuurt Esau uit om een stuk wild te schieten

About this artwork

height 75 mm x width 244 mm

Art Historical Context

**Jakob stuurt Esau uit een stuk wild te sch** Pietro Sante Bartoli1635–1700) In this delicate etching, Italian artist Pietro Sante Bart captures a pivotal biblical moment from Genesis 27, where instructs his brother Esau to wild game. This scene foreshadows the famous deception in which Jacob, with their mother Rebekah's help steals Esau's birthright blessing from their father Isaac. Created during the late Baroque period, the work reflects the era's fascination with dramatic religious narratives, blending moral storytelling with artistic virtuosity. Etching, Bartoli's favored medium, allowed for precise, expressive lines on a modest scale—75 mm high by 244 mm wide—making it ideal for intimate study or collection. As a reproductive printmaker in Rome, Bartoli often drew from masters like the Carracci, disseminating complex compositions to a wider European audience through affordable prints. The elongated panoramic format heightens the narrative tension, drawing viewers into the unfolding drama. This piece highlights 17th-century printmaking's cultural role: preserving sacred stories for devotional use and scholarly appreciation. Bartoli's technical finesse invites us to ponder timeless themes of rivalry and destiny in a format that was both accessible and exquisite. (198 words)

About the Artist

Pietro Sante Bartoli · 1615–1700

Pietro Santi Bartoli, born in Perugia in 1635, emerged as a pivotal figure in the Roman antiquarian revival of the late seventeenth century. Relocating to Rome as a youth, he initially pursued painting, studying under the French artist Jean Lemaire—known as "Le Petit Lemaire"—and later under the esteemed Nicolas Poussin, whose classical rigor profoundly shaped his early approach. Though traces of ...