Rembrandt Paintings
1606 - 1669 Painter, Etcher, Printmaker, Netherlands, Baroque
Isaac and Rebecca, 1666
Oil on canvas, 166x121 cm
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Portraits
Rembrandt's colouristic power increases tremendously during his last period, although not all of his mature paintings display it; some of the single portraits remain largely monochromatic. The so-called Jewish Bride of c. 1665, which may be a commissioned portrait of a couple in the guise of a biblical pair (such as Isaac and Rebecca), belongs to his most brilliant colouristic creations. Even in reproductions it is possible to see something of the fluctuating quality of his late paint, the vibrations of the tones, and the harmonious fusion of the whole; but they can hardly suggest the warmth of the fiery scarlets, the golden yellows, the delicate blues and olives, the powerful whites, and deep blacks of his late palette. The broad, calm, relief-like arrangement of the life-size half-figures in Isaac and Rebecca by Rembrandt recalls a certain type of Venetian Renaissance painting. This reveals a touch of classical taste, but the use of colour in the portrait is quite unclassical.
