Jacob bendiciendo a los hijos de José

The story here, from the book of Genesis, turns on a deliberate mistake. The dying Jacob is meant to give his stronger blessing to the elder grandson, but he crosses his arms and lays his right hand on the younger boy's head instead, choosing him over the firstborn. Painters before Rembrandt loved that crossing of the hands, the drama of the switch. Rembrandt, in 1656 in Amsterdam, quietly leaves it out. His Jacob simply reaches his open right hand to the fair child, with no crossed arms, no visible struggle. The whole scene is tender rather than tense: an old man in bed, warm light on the children, the mother Asenath standing by. The painting was made for an Amsterdam patron named Willem Schrijver, and scholars think the faces may carry echoes of his own family.