3-098-933 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Explorers of the Promised Land, 1668. Biblical scene: The Twelve Spies, as recorded in the Book of Numbers, were a group of Israelite chieftains, one from each of the Twelve Tribes, who were dispatched by Moses to scout out the Land of Canaan for 40 days as a future home for the Israelite people, during the time when the Israelites were in the wilderness following their Exodus from Ancient Egypt. The spies brought back a cluster of grapes - The Grapes of Canaan - so large that it took two men to carry it. One of a series of canvases depicting episodes from the Old Testament, painted by Escalante between 1667 and 1668 for the sacristy of the Merced Calzada in Madrid.