# Study for Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph (recto); Sketches: Saint Christopher; Two Figures in Conversation over Money (verso)

- By: Guercino (Italian, 1591-1666)
- Date: c. 1620
- Medium: Pen and brown ink, with brush and gray and brown wash (recto) and pen and brown ink and graphite (verso), on cream laid paper
- Classification: Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions: 18.1 × 24.5 cm (7 3/16 × 9 11/16 in.)
- Culture: Italy
- Credit line: The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/112725)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d9b4a5db-691d-637d-835b-13abf64593e0/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

This is the earliest known study for a commission that Guercino was given in 1620 by Cardinal Jacopo Serra, Legate of Ferrara. The forceful, naturalistic drawing captures the moment of the Old Testament story in which Joseph attempts to guide the blessing arm of the nearly blind Jacob away from his younger son Ephraim to the head of his first-born, Manasse.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0