Jacob and the Angel
Fortt, Annette Gandy. Jacob and the Angel, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56023 [retrieved August 4, 2023]. Original source: annettefortt.com.
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Jacob Wrestling with the Angel
Delacroix, Eugène, 1798-1863. Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48070 [retrieved August 4, 2023]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalbera/45889226434/ - CC BY 2.0.
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a poem by Joseph Stanton
Jacob is wrestling with God
as if he expected to win.
The powerful diagonal of his musculature
drives hard to the left:
a wedge of fierce resolve.
The calmly poised Angel
receives in his opened arms
all the man has to give,
unmoved by earthly urgency,
and with a mere touch
to the hollow of human thigh
throws muscle out of joint.
We know that the Angel
will refuse the victory,
tell the defenseless man he has prevailed,
endow him with a wondrous name,
make him father to a chosen people.
But the outcome does not interest Delacroix.
His concern is all for the climax:
the hero's wild reach
for what he could not even begin to grasp.
Jacob's striving is an emblem
for Delacroix's art.
Grappling hard
with the inscrutable angels of imagination,
this lover of Mozart and Greek statues
strove to render his romance
Classical.
But his details give him away:
the mighty twist and grimace of trees,
a Nature that wants to overshadow
all that mere men and gods choose to do;
brush strokes that shimmer with an inner light;
colors that leap to the dance of bonfire design.
Delacroix,
the would-be reasonable gentleman,
could not subdue or let go
the unreasonable demons of his dreaming.
The wrestling itself
is what the pictures are.
[from: Imaginary Museum: Poems on Art, by Joseph Stanton. Time Being Books, 1999, pg. 23.]
Jacob is wrestling with God
as if he expected to win.
The powerful diagonal of his musculature
drives hard to the left:
a wedge of fierce resolve.
The calmly poised Angel
receives in his opened arms
all the man has to give,
unmoved by earthly urgency,
and with a mere touch
to the hollow of human thigh
throws muscle out of joint.
We know that the Angel
will refuse the victory,
tell the defenseless man he has prevailed,
endow him with a wondrous name,
make him father to a chosen people.
But the outcome does not interest Delacroix.
His concern is all for the climax:
the hero's wild reach
for what he could not even begin to grasp.
Jacob's striving is an emblem
for Delacroix's art.
Grappling hard
with the inscrutable angels of imagination,
this lover of Mozart and Greek statues
strove to render his romance
Classical.
But his details give him away:
the mighty twist and grimace of trees,
a Nature that wants to overshadow
all that mere men and gods choose to do;
brush strokes that shimmer with an inner light;
colors that leap to the dance of bonfire design.
Delacroix,
the would-be reasonable gentleman,
could not subdue or let go
the unreasonable demons of his dreaming.
The wrestling itself
is what the pictures are.
[from: Imaginary Museum: Poems on Art, by Joseph Stanton. Time Being Books, 1999, pg. 23.]
Spiritual Practices: Keyword Listing
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
Keyword listing is a method of observational Bible study. It doesn’t require any special skills, tools, or training. You can read more about the process of keyword listing here. You can choose any word or short phrase to study using keyword listing. For this passage, we suggest the following keyword(s) to start your study.
Starting Points
- Jacob (and related pronouns) - explore what Jacob says and does as he wrestles with the angel
- Man (and related pronouns) - explore what the angel says and does as he wrestles with Jacob