Jacob's Dream

The painting depicting the story of the Biblical patriarch Jacob and his dream of a ladder to heaven (Genesis 28:10–19). In the foreground, Jacob lies asleep, using a boulder as a pillow. Nearby there is the foot of a ladder, the top part of which disappears beyond view, with seven angels climbing up and down.

Rosa (1615-1673)  was one of the least conventional artists of 17th-century Italy, and was adopted as a hero by painters of the Romantic movement in the later 18th and early 19th centuries. He was mainly a painter of landscapes, but the range of his subject matter was unusually wide and included portraits, religious scenes and allegories.

The painting is oil on canvas.