Minneapolis Institute of Art

Jacob Setting Up a Pillar

Dirk Volckertsz. Coornhert; After Maarten van Heemskerck

Date

1549

Medium

Etching

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Maarten van Heemskerck designed 278 Old Testament prints, many executed by friend Dirck Volckertsz. Coornhert. In Genesis 28:10-22, Jacob dreamed that the ground beneath him was the house of God. He set up his pillow-stone as a commemorative pillar, then anointed it, as shown at upper left. Mirroring the ruins he saw on his Italian sojourn, Heemskerck made the stone a huge slab, possibly indicating the strength of the church and the effort required to attain the throne of God. Netherlands, Europe

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