1665_The_Jewish_Bride_Rembrandt.txt

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Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 1606 – 1669
The Jewish Bride

oil on canvas (121 × 166 cm) — ca. 1665
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn biography

This work is linked to Genesis 26:8

Possibly Isaac and his wife Rebecca (Rebekah). But it is more likely to be a painting of two people who wished to be shown in an old testament setting. In the 19th century an art dealer analysed the scene as a father giving a necklace to his daughter, who is to be married. Hence the name Jewish Bride.

If the painting does depict Isaac and Rebecca, it is probably based on Genesis 26:8. Isaac lived in the city of Gerar, in the south of the land Canaan. He made his neighbours believe that his wife was his sister, as he was afraid that the locals might kill him out of jealousy of his pretty wife. But after a while the king caught them behaving in the way Rembrandt painted the two: sporting, as the KJV calls it.

The cloths have very warm colours and were painted with great detail. Rembrandt used a painting-knife to put thick layers of paint on the canvas, a technique called impasto, to create even more realistic folds in the clothing.