The story of Jacob’s Ladder comes from Genesis 28: 10-19. In the King James version of the Bible the relevant lines are: “And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.” This is the scene Holiday depicted on this bas-relief sculpture. It is virtually identical in its design to one he had used much earlier for a stained-glass window for the church of St. Mary and St. Stephen's, in Wolsingham, County Durham. This stained-glass window was installed in 1866, making this a relatively early project for Holiday at James Powell & Sons. In the mid-1880s when Holiday was commissioned to design a window for Christ Church, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn he again utilized the same design with some minor differences.
The bas-relief was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884, no. 1743, where F. G. Stephens in The Athenaeum reviewed it favourably: “The Jacob’s Ladder (1743), by H. Holiday, has some very graceful figures rising and descending” (800). The sculpture was initially installed at St. Peter’s Church in Bushey Heath but is now in the collection of the Leighton House Museum, London
Jacob’s Ladder by Henry George Alexander Holiday (1839-1927). 1884. Tinted plaster or marble bas-relief. Dimensions unknown. Collection of Leighton House Museum, London. Click on image to enlarge them. Left: Jacob’s Ladder at the Leighton House Museum, London. Right three: Sections of the bas relief with Jacob dreaming or having a vision at the right.
Bibliography
Stephens, Frederic George. “The Royal Academy.” The Athenaeum No. 2956 (June 21, 1884): 797-800.
Last modified 17 January 2023