Artist: Jan Luyken (Dutch, 1649 – 1712)
Title: The Meeting of Jacob and Esau
Medium: Antique engraving on laid paper.
Publisher: Frans Houtteyn
Reference: Hollstein / Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts c.1450-1700 ; Luyken 1905 / Het Werk van Jan en Caspar Luyken.
Dimensions: Sight size: 12 7/8 x 17 3/8 inches.
Framed Dimensions: Approximately 22 x 26 inches.
Framing: This piece has been professionally matted and framed using all new materials.
Jacob meets Esau in Genesis 33 after twenty years, a reunion marked by fear, elaborate gifts, and emotional reconciliation where Esau runs to embrace Jacob, and they weep together, despite Jacob’s prior deception for the birthright and blessing, with Esau forgiving him and accepting his gifts, though their past wounds left a lasting rift. Jacob, fearing Esau’s anger, sends vast herds as appeasement, arranging his family humbly before Esau, who arrives with 400 men but quickly softens, choosing forgiveness over revenge.
Jan Luyken (1649–1712) is a well listed artist. He was a prolific Dutch poet, illustrator, and engraver, famous for his detailed, spiritually-focused prints illustrating trades, religious persecution, and mystical themes. after a youthful period of erotic poetry led to a profound conversion to Pietistic Anabaptist Christianity, he became a major figure in Dutch art and literature known for detailed realism.