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Rembrandt's Preparatory Drawings Isaac and Rebecca based on an earlier print by Sisto Badolocchio after Raphael's fresco in the Vatican
Raphael and members of his workshop, among them Giulio Romano, Gianfrancesco Penni, Vincenzo Tamagni, Perin del Vaga and Polidoro da Caravaggio, executed the cycle of the Bible stories in a loggia on the second floor of the Palazzi Pontifici in Vatican. The episodes were painted in the ceiling vaults, within differently shaped frames. The fresco Isaac and Rebecca Spied upon by Abimelech in 1518-1519 is a part of these Bible episodes. Rembrandt van Rijn based his drawing Isaac and Rebecca on a 1607 etching by Italian artist Sisto Badolocchio which itself derives from this ceiling fresco which was created in High Renaissance style.
Isaac and Rebecca, drawing preparatory study for a portrait of a couple in a historical allegory of Isaac and Rebecca, known today as The Jewish Bride
The most popular theory today is that the painting The Jewish Bride by Rembrandt van Rijn depicts the Old Testament figures of Isaac and Rebecca. This is supported by an earlier drawing by Rembrandt (pen and brown ink) Isaac and Rebecca Spied upon by Abimelech from about 1662 that is considered to be a study for double portrait The Jewish Bride. Rembrandt probably choose the subject after he had seen a print after a fresco by Raphael. A drawing is now in a private collection in the United States.
The Jewish Bride is one of the great baroque portraits of Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of a Couple as Isaac and Rebecca from around 1667, commonly known as The Jewish Bride, is an example of the aging Rembrandt at his finest. This double portrait acquired the title of The Jewish Bride in the early nineteenth century when an art collector in Amsterdam interpreted the painting as a Jewish father who hung a necklace to his daughter on her wedding day. Nowadays many art historians disagree with this interpretation. Some believe the two figures portrayed are lovers or a married couple and others think it represents a biblical couple. Also, some have suggested that the painting shows Rembrandt's son Titus and his wife. The painting is now housed in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens is a loving portrait of the couple
Shortly after his return after eight years in Italy, the 32-year-old Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens married the 18-year-old Isabella Brant on 3 October 1609. The same year he painted a double portrait Honeysuckle Bower where the artist has a self-portrait and a portrait of his wife. The full title of this painting from 1609-1610 is The Artist and his First Wife, Isabella Brant, in the Honeysuckle Bower. This painting is entitled Honeysuckle Bower and housed in the Alte Pinakothek Gallery in Munich.
The Arnolfini Wedding by Jan van Eyck reveals the inner meaning of a true marriage
Double portrait The Arnolfini Wedding is considered to be a painted pictorial wedding certificate from 1434. It is believed that the scene shown is a private wedding ceremony, which celebrates married life, or a close relationship between the couple. Very little is known about the couple in the painting. Most probably, it is Giovanni di Nicolao of Arnolfini, who would have been around 34 years of age in 1434. He was a merchant from Lucca, a city in Tuscany, Italy, who spent most of his life in Flanders, then part of the Duchy of Burgundy, probably based in a wealthy trading city Bruges. The woman is most likely his second wife Constance Trenta. Giovanni and Constance had no children, and Constance died a year before the portrait was painted, in 1433.
The Arnolfini Wedding by Jan van Eyck is an enigmatic double portrait
One of the great paintings of the Netherlandish Renaissance, The Arnolfini Wedding, also known as The Arnolfini Marriage, Arnolfini's Double Portrait or The Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife, made Jan van Eyck in 1434. It is considered one of the most original and complex paintings in Western art, because of its beauty, enigmatic, complex iconography, geometric orthogonal perspective, and expansion of the picture space with the use of a mirror. The painting is now in the National Gallery in London.
Van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait and Velázquez's Las Meninas
Jan van Eyck's Arnolfini Double Portrait, also known as The Arnolfini Wedding, The Arnolfini Marriage, or the Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife, and Diego Velázquez's group portrait Las Meninas overshadowed the time gap of two centuries, variations in style techniques, and art period influences of the two artists. Upon first glance, Arnolfini Double Portrait made in 1434 and Las Meninas made in 1656 do not look similar and are likely to vary from one another. But, more similarities than differences are evident between Arnolfini Double Portrait and Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas.
Pablo Picasso: The Many variations on Las Meninas of Diego Velázquez
In 1957, Pablo Picasso isolated himself from his family, friends, and the world to create a series of fifty-eight paintings, variations on one of the most influential paintings in the world, Diego Velázquez's Las Meninas. The series is a confrontation with one of the most important works in the history of Spanish painting and also a commentary on contemporary events in Spain, observed by Picasso from his exile in France. By painting this series, he sought to understand the key elements of a work he admired while also giving his Las Meninas a life of their own. Pablo Picasso himself understood this series as a whole and as such donated it to the Museum in Barcelona in May 1968 in memory of his secretary and close friend Jaime Sabartés who died the same year.
Las Meninas, after Velázquez by Pablo Picasso is unambiguous variation of Las Meninas
Pablo Picasso was especially attracted to Diego Velázquez's masterpiece Las Meninas because it dealt with his central theme of painter and model. In 1957, he started an extended series of variations on Las Meninas where he produced a personal interpretation of the whole of Velázquez's work. Las Meninas, after Velázquez, is the first, largest, and most widely recognized variation of Las Meninas, and is the most faithful to the vertical composition created by Velázquez. It is situated in Picasso Museum, Barcelona.
Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez is a painting about art, illusion, and reality
At the most basic level, the painting Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez is a group portrait of the five-year-old infanta Margarita, her ladies-in-waiting, and other members of the court, the King and Queen of Spain, and Velázquez himself. At the same time, it is essentially about the relationship between reality and illusion, life and art, a consuming preoccupation during the Spanish Baroque. Also, it might be seen as a summary of Velázquez's life and art up to that point. It contains his only known self-portrait surrounded by royalty, courtiers, and objects that represent him and his milieu.
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