James Cordova Arts

Retablo, 2004

Hand-adzed wood, home-made gesso, water-based natural pigments, piñon-resin varnish, leather.

Jacob Wrestles the Angel (Gn 32: 22 - 32)

On night, as Jacob was preparing to meet his brother Esau, whom he believed would harm him, a man came to Jacob and began to wrestle with him before dawn. Upon seeing that Jacob was winning, the man struck Jacob on the hip and threw it out of joint. He told Jacob to let him go, and Jacob demanded that the man bless him. When he presented himself to the man, the man renamed him Israel since he had struggled with God and man and had won. Jacob was convinced that he had seen God, face-to-face in this encounter.