Jacob Wrestling with the Angel is a biblical story commonly depicted in art. The story appears in chapter 32 of Genesis and chapter 12 of the Book of Hosea. Several sources credit the angel as being the Archangel Michael.^[1]

A number of artists have depicted it, including:

Rembrandt (1659)	Gustave Doré (1855)	Eugène Delacroix (1861)	Alexander Louis Leloir (1865)
Paul Gauguin (1888). Also known as Vision after the Sermon

Subject of the 1940 sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein.^[2]

It is mentioned in Dodie Smith's debut novel I Capture the Castle (1948).

It is mentioned in Margaret Laurence's "The Stone Angel."

Referred to in U2's song Bullet the Blue Sky (1986).

It was referenced in the 1990 play Angels in America by Tony Kushner. The version depicted on-screen was the 1865 version by Alexander Louis Leloir.

The painting figures prominently in the 1997 film The Tango Lesson as a metaphor for dance and life.

Referred to in Switchfoot's song "Twenty-Four" (2003).

Zadie Smith mentions it in her 2005 novel, On Beauty, specifically the version painted by Rembrandt (the specialty of her main character, Prof. Howard Belsey).

The story features in Jerzy Grotowski's production of Akropolis.

It is also a popular theme for contemporary angel-inspired art.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

1. ^ Targum pseudo-Jonathan to Genesis xxxii. 25; Pirke R. El. xxxvii.
2. ^ On display at the Tate Britain.[1]

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jacob Wrestling with the Angel

• List of additional illustrations
• Article about Genesis story
• Wrestling With Angels chabad.org