Story of Jacob with the born of the twins

This capital begins a sequence of historiated capitals that take up the entire west side of the cloister and thematize the story of the old testament patriarch Jacob.

The story is spread across two capitals, which are placed as double supports (W1WB1bis), as well as over more capitals staggered behind one another (- W7WB22bis).
The east side of the capital, which is oriented towards the monastery’s garden, depicts Isaac’s wife Rebecca who has just given birth and is laying in bed, at the head of which stands a midwife.
Both her twins crawl out from under the blanket, where the second-born son Jacob is grasping onto the heel of the first-born Esau (Gen 25:26).

All the figures are identified by inscriptions:
REBECCA / OBSTETRIX / ESAU / JACOB.

The Jacob capitals are, especially in terms of style, closely connected to each other. Certain props and motifs are schematically repeated, such as Rebecca’s bed, the sumptuousness of the curtain or the bedspread. This stands out particularly in capital N3B4 where the curtain is decorated with the motif of regularly-placed holes. The figure of the midwife is also repeated on the north side of capital W2EB17S.

bed birth ESAV bedspread blanket curtain Esau first-born heel hole inscription Isaac midwife Jacob OBSTETRIX old patriarch verse Rebecca wife second-born son testament twins