The Jewish Bride
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 to 1669) · About 1665 to 1669
A man in a golden sleeve lays one hand on the chest of a woman in red, and she rests her fingers lightly on his. He looks down at her, she looks away into her own thoughts. The gesture is tender and a little formal, as if a vow were being made. The title Jewish Bride was invented by a collector in the nineteenth century who imagined a father hanging a necklace on his daughter; today it is thought the couple are Isaac and Rebecca from the book of Genesis, who pretended to be brother and sister until the king of the Philistines saw them embracing, or perhaps an Amsterdam couple who asked to be painted in the roles.
The paint is the thing to look at. Rembrandt in his last years laid on colour with a palette knife and the handle of his brush, building the man's sleeve into ridges of yellow and ochre that stand off the canvas and catch real light, while the woman's dress is a scarlet glaze over thick underpainting. Seen close the sleeve is a landscape of paint; seen from a few steps back it is cloth of gold. The faces, by contrast, are soft and finished, and the two hands at the centre are painted with a delicacy that makes the whole picture about touch.
Vincent van Gogh sat in front of this painting for hours in 1885 and said he would give ten years of his life to sit before it for a fortnight with only a crust of bread. It came to the museum in 1885 with the Van der Hoop bequest, and has hung in the Gallery of Honour since the building opened. It is the most intimate of Rembrandt's late works, painted when he was bankrupt and grieving and, on this evidence, more in command of paint than anyone before or since.
Did You Know? Van Gogh said he would gladly give ten years of his life to sit in front of this painting for two weeks with nothing but dry bread.
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