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Jacob Jordaens

Jacob and Esau

c. 1655
Charcoal, pen and brown ink, and brush and brown washes, heightened with opaque white watercolor, on pieced cream laid paper, laid down on blue laid paper, ruled in pen and brown ink, laid down on tan laid paper
25.4 × 29.7 cm (10 × 11.7 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This energetic drawing represents the moment when Jacob compels his older twin brother, Esau, to exchange his birthright for a bowl of stew. The brothers are surrounded by their mother, two maidservants, and two dogs. Jacob Jordaens set this Old Testament narrative in a domestic setting and filled it to the point of bursting. Indeed, the composition outgrew the original boundaries of the drawing support, prompting Jordaens to extend it by adding strips of paper to all four sides in order to complete his work.

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