Isaac Blesses Jacob

12th century?
Mosaic
Palatine Chapel, Palermo, Sicily

This episode is recounted in Genesis 27:1-29. In the mosaic we see Isaac's son Esau hunting for game to prepare a meal for his father. Meanwhile his mother Rebecca sees to it that the old man's blessing goes to Jacob rather than Esau. She prepares a dish for Isaac and has Jacob present it while pretending to be Esau. Jacob puts the skins of kids on his arms to mimic Esau's hairy arms, tells Isaac he is Esau, and receives the blessing.

Parts of this panel may be 19th-century restorations. The lettering is more regular than in some other panels, and the modeling of Rebecca's face does not seem medieval.

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Photographed at the chapel by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.