Laban Searching for his Idols
Jan de Bray
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
This small, signed and dated sketch by Jan de Bray depicts a scene from chapter 31 of Genesis. Rachel sits on the ground, concealing the idols she, unbeknownst to her husband, Jacob, stole from the home of her father, Laban, who has come to confront the couple. De Bray conveys the intensity of their verbal exchange through gesture and body language. Laban stands upright and points an accusatory finger. Jacob grabs his father-in-law's wrist, the forward motion of his body and his outstretched arms conveying the earnestness and anger with which he defends his family, while Rachel nonchalantly extends an open palm and makes her false excuse for being unable to stand. Servants and children watch intently as the conflict unfolds. The drawing is a quick sketchprobably made in preparation for a painting. De Bray may have known Pieter Lastman’s 1622 painting of the subject (Musée Boulogne-sur-Mer), with which the present drawing shares certain elements, in particular the portrayal of Laban. De Bray, however, reduced the number of subsidiary figures, which in combination with the more dynamic gestures makes for greater narrative clarity. He also costumed Rachel in a more refined gown, in keeping with later seventeenth-century taste. Although no painting of this subject by his hand is known, he presumably made the sketch with a projected picture in mind. (JSS, 8/24/2018)
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.