Six canvases in a series devoted to the life of Jacob were painted to a commission from the Marques de Villamanrique, a patron of the Seville Academy. The Hermitage possesses two paintings from this series - Isaac Blessing Jacob and The Dream of Jacob, acquired in 1811 through the intermediacy of Dominique Vivant Denon, the general director of the museums of France. The subject of The Dream of Jacob is taken from the Bible: Jacob was forced by the wrath of his brother Esau, who was deprived of his heritage, to flee the family home. He wandered for many days, not knowing where to lay his head. Once he fell asleep by the wayside and saw in a dream a ladder with angels climbing up and down it, while God was at its top. "And behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall be spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." (Genesis, 28:13-15) The figure of Jacob himself is not prominent in the painting where decorative effect is dominant. The ladder crowded with angels in elegant white robes looks like a dazzling spectacle. The figures stand out against a nocturnal landscape painted with consummate skill. Moonlight pouring through dark broken clouds illuminates the trees, the river and the waterfall. It is an interesting fact that the Marques originally intended to invite Ignacio Iriarteto to paint the backgrounds, but the artists began arguing about who should adapt himself to whom and Murillo painted everything himself, permitting us to appreciate his great mastery of landscape painting.