''The Jewish Bride'' ( nl, Het Joodse bruidje) is a

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and a ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...

, painted around 1665‒1669. The painting gained its current name in the early 19th century, when an Amsterdam art collector identified the subject as that of a Jewish father bestowing a necklace upon his daughter on her wedding day. This interpretation is no longer accepted, and the identity of the couple is uncertain. The ambiguity is heightened by the lack of anecdotal context, leaving only the central universal theme, that of a couple joined in love. Speculative suggestions as to the couple's identity have ranged from Rembrandt's son Titus and his bride, or Amsterdam poet

Miguel de Barrios Miguel Barrios (a.k.a. Daniel Levi de Barrios; c. 1625 – 1701) was a poet and historian from a converso family who joined the community of Spanish and Portuguese Jews in Amsterdam. He was born in Montilla, Spain and died in Amsterdam. Miguel was ...

and his wife. Also considered are several couples from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

, including

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Je ...

and

Sarah Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pio ...

Boaz Boaz (; Hebrew: בֹּעַז ''Bōʿaz''; ) is a biblical figure appearing in the Book of Ruth in the Hebrew Bible and in the genealogies of Jesus in the New Testament and also the name of a pillar in the portico of the historic Temple in J ...

and

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

, or

Isaac Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was ...

and

Rebekah Rebecca, ; Syriac: , ) from the Hebrew (lit., 'connection'), from Semitic root , 'to tie, couple or join', 'to secure', or 'to snare') () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblic ...

, which is supported by a drawing by the artist several years prior. While technical evidence suggests that Rembrandt initially envisioned a larger and more elaborate composition, the placement of his signature at lower left indicates that its current dimensions are not significantly different from those at the time of its completion. According to Rembrandt biographer Christopher White, the completed composition is "one of the greatest expressions of the tender fusion of spiritual and physical love in the history of painting."White, Christopher, ''Rembrandt'', p. 202. London, 1984. The painting is in the permanent collection of the

Rijksmuseum The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the ...

in Amsterdam. File:Rembrandt - The Jewish Bride (detail) - WGA19160.jpg, Detail of the hands File:Rembrandt Isaac and Rebecca.jpg, Drawing of Isaac and Rebeccah spied upon by Abimelech, by Rembrandt, ca. 1662 File:Dziewczyna w ramie obrazu 1.jpg, Other '' Jewish Bride'', by Rembrandt, 1641

References

External links

*
The Jewish Bride
' at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.
Portrait of a couple as Isaac and Rebeccah, known as ''The Jewish Bride''
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

images database {{DEFAULTSORT:Jewish Bride, The 1660s paintings Paintings by Rembrandt Paintings in the collection of the Rijksmuseum Paintings depicting Isaac

References

Further reading

External links