Jacob Encountering Rachel with her Father's Herds

The painting Jacob Encountering Rachel with her Father's Herds was created by Austrian artist Joseph von Führich in 1836, as indicated by the work’s date and authorship in multiple sources. The work is executed in oil on canvas and measures 66.3 cm in height by 90.5 cm in width. It entered the collection of the Belvedere in Vienna, where it is currently held. The painting is classified as a religious genre work depicting the biblical encounter between Jacob and Rachel.

Joseph von Führich's 1836 oil painting Jacob Encountering Rachel with her Father's Herds entered the Belvedere collection and became recognized as a significant work of 19th-century religious art. Its compositional treatment of the biblical encounter influenced later academic interpretations of narrative painting, particularly in Central European art academies where Führich's stylistic synthesis of Romanticism and religious storytelling remained influential through the latter half of the 19th century.

Created in 1836 by Austrian painter Joseph von Führich, this oil work portrays the biblical encounter between Jacob and Rachel amid her father's flocks. The canvas is part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s holdings and exemplifies the clear, detailed aesthetic typical of the Biedermeier era.

Although best known for religious subjects, Führich applied his Nazarene training to this secular biblical episode, aligning with the Biedermeier focus on domestic tranquility and clear representation. The work illustrates the period’s preference for narrative clarity and emotional restraint.