The conservation of Jacopo Bassano’s The Return of Jacob  has been sponsored by Arnold M. Bernstein

Jacopo Bassano’s The Return of Jacob was commissioned for Palazzo Contarini at San Samuele, the Venetian residence shared by the brothers Giacomo and Giovanni Battista Contarini. Giacomo Contarini was a figure of wide-ranging culture and erudition, closely connected to leading humanists such as Ludovico Dolce and Daniele Barbaro, as well as to architects of the stature of Andrea Palladio. His sophisticated tastes are further evidenced by his patronage of Paolo Veronese’s Abduction of Europa—itself the subject of another Save Venice conservation project. Yet alongside this worldly and intellectually vibrant milieu lived his brother Giovanni Battista, a very different character: a man of letters who devoted his life to charitable works and the care of the destitute. As administrator of the hospice of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, he earned the enduring title “pater pauperum”—father of the poor—and was widely known for his austere, ascetic way of life. t is reasonable to suggest that Giovanni Battista Contarini may likewise have played a role in commissioning The Return of Jacob.

The subject of the painting derives from Genesis (31:17–21), in which Jacob resolves to return to Canaan with his family after years spent in Paddan-Aram. Rather than fleeing in haste, he gathers his household, flocks, and possessions—the fruits of his labor—and departs in an orderly and deliberate manner, acting as a responsible patriarch.

In his interpretation of The Return of Jacob, Bassano has transformed the landscape into a sweeping, immersive panorama that dominates the viewer’s experience. On the right, a long procession of sheep and shepherds winds its way along a narrow, rocky path that recedes deep into the distance. The trail guides the eye toward a blue Mount Zion rising on the horizon, lending the scene a poetic sense of boundless space. Nature here is not a passive backdrop but an active presence. In the immediate foreground, the shepherds appear poised for departure, their gestures conveying urgency, movement, and the inevitability of travel. At the same time, the rest of the foreground is animated by scenes of busy preparation. Men and women scurry about, loading carts, organizing belongings, and tending to animals. Heavy wooden chests, baskets of chickens, dishes, and household objects are scattered across the ground, creating an atmosphere of restless activity.

Scholars have frequently interpreted Bassano’s expansive landscapes as genre scenes in which the muted light, earthy palette, and pervasive sense of departure have been read as visual metaphors for a broader cultural shift: the gradual erosion of Renaissance confidence in humanity’s mastery over nature. Rather than celebrating human control, the painting subtly underscores human fragility within an overwhelming natural order. In this view, Bassano anticipates a more introspective and spiritually charged vision of the world that would characterize the later 16nth century.

Alongside this interpretive framework, a more explicitly symbolic reading has also been proposed—one that understands the painting as a didactic moral image rooted in religious teaching. In this interpretation, the distant flock and shepherds moving along the narrow path toward the towering mountain evoke the Christian pilgrimage toward salvation. Their humble progression suggests spiritual detachment, perseverance, and the renunciation of earthly comforts in favor of divine truth. By contrast, Jacob and his family dominate the foreground not as spiritual guides, as the biblical narrative implies, but as figures absorbed in the logistics of transporting their material wealth. Encircled by heavy chests, domestic goods, and livestock, they appear burdened by possessions rather than liberated by faith. This contrast between the ascetic shepherds following the narrow way of Christ and Jacob’s household weighed down by worldly goods transforms the painting into a meditation on attachment, responsibility, and renunciation. Bassano thus visualizes an evangelical message circulating in 16th-century religious culture: that true salvation lies not in accumulating treasures on earth but in cultivating spiritual humility. Such an interpretation aligns compellingly with the values embodied by Giovanni Battista Contarini. His lifelong dedication to charity, simplicity, and the care of the poor suggests that he would have recognized—and perhaps even encouraged—this moral dimension in Bassano’s painting.

Jacopo Bassano’s painting was donated to the Palazzo Ducale in 1713 together with its pendant, Paolo Veronese’s Abduction of Europa. Confiscated in 1797 and taken to Paris by French troops, Veronese’s painting was returned to the Palazzo Ducale at the beginning of the 19th century. Since then, the two canvases have been displayed side by side in the Sala dell’Anticollegio, where their interplay has become an integral part of the room’s visual and historical identity.

The painting is currently obscured by accumulated layers of dust and grime deposits, while the paint film exhibits minor abrasions and evidence of previous inpainting and fillings in several areas. Oxidized varnishes and earlier restoration interventions now alter the visual appearance of the painting, diminishing its artistic legibility and raising concerns regarding its long-term preservation. The planned conservation treatment will address these issues, restoring the painting’s structural stability, recovering its aesthetic clarity, and ensuring a historically respectful reading of the artwork.

Jacopo Bassano (c. 1515 – 1592)
The Return of Jacob
1560, oil on canvas
240 x 370

Aikema, Bernard. Jacopo Bassano and His Public. Moralizing Pictures in the Age of Reform, ca. 1535-1600. Princeton and New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1996, pp. 84-91

Berdini, Paolo. The Religious Art of Jacopo Bassano. Paintings as Visual Exegesis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 81-87

Hochmann, Michel. La collezione di Giacomo Contarini. In Ca’ Contarini dalle Figure. Venice: Lineadacqua, 2026, pp. 142-175

Ellero, Giuseppe. Personaggi e momenti di vita. In Aikema, Bernard and Dulcia Meijers (eds.). Nel regno dei poveri. Arte e storia nei grandi ospedali veneziani in età moderna 1474-1797. Venice: IRE, 1989, pp. 109-120

Ellero, Giuseppe. Interventi di Palladio sui luoghi pii. L’Ospedaletto. In Puppi, Lionello (ed.). Palladio e Venezia. Florence: Sansoni Editore, 1982, pp. 121-132

Tafuri, Manfredo. Venezia e il Rinascimento. Turin: Einaudi, 1985, pp. 185-212