The book of Genesis recounts that Abraham instructs his son to travel to Padanaram to find a wife. At night, he takes his rest with stones for a pillow. Then, in his dream, he sees a ladder reaching up to heaven, with angels ascending and descending it. From the top, God speaks to him, promising him the land for a great nation of descendants. Here, Luca Giordano applies a flamboyant, open painterly handling for a painting that originally formed part of a palace decorative scheme, and would have been placed over a door, hence its squat format and view from below.