You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Dutch. (January 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Dutch Wikipedia article at [[:nl:Het Joodse bruidje]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|nl|Het Joodse bruidje}} to the talk page.
The Jewish Bride (Dutch: Het Joodse bruidje) is a painting by Rembrandt, painted around 1665‒1669.[1]
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.[2] The ambiguity is heightened by the lack of anecdotal context, leaving only the central universal theme, that of a couple joined in love.[3] Speculative suggestions as to the couple's identity have ranged from Rembrandt's son Titus and his bride, or Amsterdam poet Miguel de Barrios and his wife. Also considered are several couples from the Old Testament, including Abraham and Sarah, Boaz and Ruth, or Isaac and Rebekah, which is supported by a drawing by the artist several years prior.[4]
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.[5] 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."[6]
The painting is in the permanent collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Detail of the hands
Drawing of Isaac and Rebeccah spied upon by Abimelech, by Rembrandt, c. 1662