Artnit

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.

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.

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.