Bassano School; XVII century.

School of the BASSANO; XVII century.
"The dream of Jabob".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Measurements: 40 x 56 cm; 52,5 x 63,5 cm (frame).
The work represents the dream of Jacob. It tells the story of Genesis in which Jacob left Beer-sheba in the direction of Haran. By chance he came to a place and stayed there to spend the night, because the sun had already set. And he took a stone from there, and put it on as a pillow, and lay down to sleep in that place. And he dreamed a dream: A stairway resting on the ground with its top touching the sky. Angels of God were ascending and descending it. The Lord stood upon it and said, "I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I will give it to you and your descendants. Your descendants will multiply like the dust of the earth, and you will occupy the east and the west, the north and the south; and all the nations of the world will be called blessed because of you and your descendants. I am with thee; I will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again unto this land, and will not forsake thee, until I have performed that which I have promised." When Jacob awoke, he said, "Truly the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." And, in awe, he added, "How terrible is this place; it is but the house of God and the gate of heaven."
Formally we can relate this work to the Bassano workshop, a family saga key to the development of the Venetian Mannerist school. Its founder was Jacopo Bassano (ca.1515 - 1592), although his father had already been a popular artist, from whom Jacopo learned the costumbrist tone with which he endowed most of his religious compositions. An artist of great success in his time, Jacopo Bassano worked in Venice and other Italian cities, and established a workshop in his native Bassano del Grappa, near Venice. It was there that his four sons, who continued his style, were trained and developed their careers: Francesco the Younger (1549-1592), Gerolamo (1566-1621), Giovanni Battista (1553-1613) and Leandro (1557-1622).