Laban Searching for His Idols

Artist Willem van Nieulandt II (Dutch, 1584–about 1635)

Date1630

Mediumoil on panel

Dimensionspanel: 82.6 x 100.3 cm (32 1/2 x 39 1/2 in.)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCharlotte E.W. Buffington Fund

Terms

Object number1980.7

Label TextAccording to the Old Testament account (Genesis 31:17-55), Jacob departed from Mesopotamia taking with him his two wives, Rachel and Leah, and all their possessions. In departing, Rachel stole her father Laban's teraphim, some small figures representing household gods. When he discovered his loss, Laban pursued and eventually overtook his son-in-law's caravan. Unaware of the theft, Jacob invited Laban to search all his belongings. Rachel, who hid the teraphim in a camel's saddle and sat on it, refused to stand up for her father, claiming that "the common lot of woman was upon her". (According to Old Testament law, a man was prohibited from touching a menstruating woman or anything that she had touched, until it was purified.) Unsuccessful in recovering his teraphim, Laban made his peace with Jacob and returned to his homeland. In Van Nieuwlandt's painting, Laban approaches Jacob telling him of his loss. Jacob, with a sympathetic expression, gestures toward his belongings inviting his father-in-law to search for the lost teraphim. Meanwhile Rachel, seated next to Jacob, effectively feigns indisposition through her slumped pose and distressed look. The seated woman to the right of Rachel appears to be her sister Leah, Jacob's other wife. The Roman structure in the background is the third-century A.D. Temple of Minerva Medica, ruins of which can still be seen in Rome today. Van Nieuwlandt, who was born in Antwerp, came to Amsterdam with his parents at about the age of four. There he is reported to have been a pupil of Jacob Savory. In 1602 he traveled to Rome and worked under the landscape artist Paul Bril. Returning to Antwerp, where in 1605 he became a master in the painters' guild, Van Nieuwlandt made a career as an artist, poet and dramatist. He eventually moved to Amsterdam where he is recorded to have died in 1635.ProvenanceMrs. H.S. Schaeffer, New York NY

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