Ribera's "Jacob" and the Tragic Sense of Life

Abstract

painter brought distinction to themselves by creating, each in his own medium, a work of art in which the central theme revolves around the world of dreams. Although much has been written about Calder6n's in Spanish thought and letters, little has been said about Ribera, whose frank, unadorned realism conceals a transcendent world as eternally Spanish as the world of Segismundo.In the following remarks I shall attempt to show, through an analysis of Ribera's Jacob, how closely this canvas is related not only to the main artistic and philosophical currents of the Spanish Golden Age but also to the more universal problem of the yo interno and the yo histdrico as presented by Miguel de Unamuno. The latter's obsession with sleep, which he sees as a window opening inward (ladentro!)2 on the eternal soul, forms a striking parallel with Ribera's interpretation of the sleeping Jacob. The painting with which we are concerned now hangs in the Prado where it impresses the viewer less, perhaps, for its monumental size than for its sheer ugliness. We wonder, indeed, how a picture so drab in tone, so completely lacking in any reference to a dream, and whose central figure is so thoroughly unprepossessing, can claim our attention at all. Yet there is a haunting fascination about this stark picture, and we are drawn to it again and again, perhaps hoping to discover with each new visit the mystery of its strange appeal. The Biblical Jacob is depicted lying on a large, flat rock, apparently asleep. He is wrapped in a homely cloak, and his head is resting on his left hand. Although his eyes are closed, there is no clear indication of whether or not he is having a dream. The upper half of the painting consists of a threatening, gray sky, relieved only by a pale, yellow shaft of light descending from the upper right-hand corner and touching Jacob's head. The sole sign of life, other than the sleeping figure, is a brownish, half-dead tree on the left which forms an unbroken projection of the sleeper's body. The lower portion of Jacob's cloak continues the brown of the tree. The upper part is black, as are his hair and beard. The rock on which he lies is a rusty brown and underscores the total effect of gloomy desolation. There can be little doubt that Ribera, to the extent that he has caught the mood of the dreadful place described in Genesis (28: 10-22), has been faithful to the scriptures. But what of the dream? Where is the famous ladder? Where are the angels of God ascending and descending? WVVhere, in short, is the gate of heaven? These are legitimate questions, particularly since the picture purports to deal with what Jacob dreamed while on his journey eastward, toward Haran, in quest of a wife. Is Ribera's omission of the dream inten-