DISCOVERART

Follower of Rembrandt van Rijn

Jacob's Farewell to Benjamin

1650/60
Oil on canvas
113 × 110.5 cm (44.5 × 43.5 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 scene of kinship between men has been interpreted as the biblical figure Jacob granting permission to his youngest son, Benjamin, to travel with his brothers to Egypt. The artist, an unknown follower of Rembrandt van Rijn, conveyed Jacob’s ambivalent emotional state by presenting the boy with his back to the viewer. Rembrandt and his followers treated this subject many times, as the Protestant art market in the Dutch Republic valued scenes of faith and loyalty but lacked the Catholic interest in martyrdom.

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