Jacob's Ladder

Overview

An apocryphal tale from the Book of Genesis. Jacob, the son of Isaac, sees in a dream a staircase, the base of which rests on the earth, and the top reaches heaven; angels ascend and descend on it. Every step of the ladder and every movement along it in this vision has its own meaning. Marc Chagall, using a metaphorical image from Scripture, presented in his paintings the interweaving and intertwining of the lives of the inhabitants of the hinterland, each of whom has his own Jacob's ladder, along which angels move — the arbiters of their destinies.

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