Oil on canvas, 150cm by 130cm.
In the Bible, Jacob dreamed of a ladder, or stairway, between Earth and Heaven.
Cigoli was a friend of Galileo (1564-1642), the astronomer who first published the theory of heliocentricity. Following Galileo’s observations, Cigoli painted a realistic depiction of the moon in a ceiling fresco in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, rather than the smooth orb normally depicted; this was viewed at the time as heretical.
