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Lot Essay
A preparatory drawing, in red chalk with white heightening on green prepared paper and measuring 22.4 x 32 cm., is in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Lille (see fig. 1; PL. 215; see F. Baldassari, op. cit., pp. 184-5, fig. 161a). Dolci reproduces the pose of the sleeping Jacob, as set out in the drawing, although in the picture he depicts Jacob's mouth as slightly open, a touch that both suggests a deeper abandonment to sleep and renders Jacob more vulnerable to the viewer's gaze. In the drawing there is no sign of the angels climbing the ladder in the background that appear in the finished picture.
The story of Jacob's ladder is found in Genesis 28:10-22. Resting on his journey to Harran, Jacob took some stones for a pillow and in his ensuing sleep he dreamed of a ladder reaching up to Heaven, with angels going up and down. From the top of the ladder God spoke to him promising the land to his descendants. In the morning when he awoke he built a pillar from the stones and named the place Bethel, 'the house of God'. Dolci places Jacob close to the picture plane, enveloped by his red cloak. He dominates the scene, with only a hint of vegetation on the right hand side to suggest the landscape around. Two angels can be seen on the ladder, which appears as a series of stone steps in the background. Francesca Baldassari in her catalogue raisonné of the artist dates the picture to circa 1640 and likens the delicate brushwork of the face with the San Domenico dated 1649, in the Pitti Palace, Florence (loc. cit.).
This picture was formerly in the Corsini Collection. Not only does it bear the Corsini seal on the reverse of the panel (see fig. 2), but it is also recorded in an inventory of the Palazzo Corsini, Florence in 1880. It is not certain when it was acquired by the family, but Bartolomeo Corsini (1622-85) was a major patron of Dolci's, commissioning a number of works from him, some of which remain in the Corsini Collection to this day (F. Baldassari, op. cit., nos. 78, 86, 90 and 92), and it is likely that present picture may also have been commissioned by him.
The story of Jacob's ladder is found in Genesis 28:10-22. Resting on his journey to Harran, Jacob took some stones for a pillow and in his ensuing sleep he dreamed of a ladder reaching up to Heaven, with angels going up and down. From the top of the ladder God spoke to him promising the land to his descendants. In the morning when he awoke he built a pillar from the stones and named the place Bethel, 'the house of God'. Dolci places Jacob close to the picture plane, enveloped by his red cloak. He dominates the scene, with only a hint of vegetation on the right hand side to suggest the landscape around. Two angels can be seen on the ladder, which appears as a series of stone steps in the background. Francesca Baldassari in her catalogue raisonné of the artist dates the picture to circa 1640 and likens the delicate brushwork of the face with the San Domenico dated 1649, in the Pitti Palace, Florence (loc. cit.).
This picture was formerly in the Corsini Collection. Not only does it bear the Corsini seal on the reverse of the panel (see fig. 2), but it is also recorded in an inventory of the Palazzo Corsini, Florence in 1880. It is not certain when it was acquired by the family, but Bartolomeo Corsini (1622-85) was a major patron of Dolci's, commissioning a number of works from him, some of which remain in the Corsini Collection to this day (F. Baldassari, op. cit., nos. 78, 86, 90 and 92), and it is likely that present picture may also have been commissioned by him.