Description
This story comes from the Old Testament book of Genesis and stresses the value of reconciliation. Jacob lived with his uncle Laban for years, marrying Laban’s daughters Rachel and Leah. When the relationship between the men soured, Jacob and his family departed, while Rachel secretly stole her father’s household gods. When Laban discovered that the statues were missing, he pursued Jacob, accusing him of theft. Here, Jacob invites Laban to search his tent, while Rachel sits on the saddlebag containing the statues. After coming up empty-handed, Laban proposes a truce, ending the squabble.
Provenance
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (1965-); (Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (Until 1965); Carlos Guinle [1889-1956], Rio de Janeiro (by 1931); Jacques Barou de la Lombardière de Canson [d. 1958], Paris (by 1926); Hibbard1 (1924-); (Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, sale, July 4, 1924, no. 21, sold to Hibbard) (1924); Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor, second Duke of Westminster [1879 –1953] (By 1907-1924); Hugh Grosvenor, Marquis of Westminster [1825-1899], Grosvenor House, London, to his grandson, Hugh Richard Arthur Grosvenor (Possibly until 1899); Possibly Robert Grosvenor, Marquis of Westminster [1767-1845]1 (After 1809); Marquis of Santiago, Santiago Palace, Madrid, sold to William Buchanan and W.G. Coesvelt through G. Augustus Wallis; (William Buchanan and W.G. Coesvelt, London, acquired in Spain through Buchanan’s agent, G. Augustus Wallis), sold to the Marquis of Westminster)1 (c. 1808-1809); Marquis of Villamanrique, MadMarquis of Santiago, Santiago Palace, Madrid, sold to William Buchanan and W.G. Coesvelt through G. Augustus Wallisrid1 (by 1775-1808); Marquis of Villamanrique, Seville (1665-)
Accession Number
1965.469
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Framed: 278 x 398 x 14 cm (109 7/16 x 156 11/16 x 5 1/2 in.); Unframed: 243 x 362 cm (95 11/16 x 142 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Canvas Spanish Color: Orange Color: Brown
Background & Context
Background Story
Laban Searching for his Stolen Household Gods depicts the Old Testament story of Rachel hiding the household gods (teraphim) that her husband Jacob's servant has stolen from her father Laban. Murillo's treatment is characteristically warm and accessible: the figures are arranged in a domestic interior that looks more like a 17th-century Sevillian home than an ancient Middle Eastern dwelling, and the emotional dynamics of the story—Laban's anger, Rachel's deception, Jacob's anxiety—are conveyed through gesture and expression rather than through symbolic attributes. The subject was popular in Counter-Reformation art because it illustrated the dangers of idolatry while also dramatizing family conflict.
Cultural Impact
Murillo's biblical paintings translated Old and New Testament stories into the visual language of 17th-century Seville, making sacred narratives accessible to a popular audience by dressing them in contemporary clothing and setting them in familiar domestic interiors. Laban Searching is a characteristic example: the biblical story is told through the gestures and expressions of Sevillian-looking figures in a Sevillian-looking interior, making the sacred narrative feel immediate and domestic rather than remote and hieratic.
Why It Matters
Laban Searching for his Stolen Household Gods is Murillo's biblical storytelling at its most domestic: an Old Testament narrative translated into the visual language of 17th-century Seville, with familiar-looking people in a familiar-looking interior. The sacred story becomes a family drama, and the theological lesson becomes a human emotion.
