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1 of 253523 objects
Wooded Landscape with the Meeting of Isaac and Rebecca Signed and dated 1743
Oil on canvas | 227.2 x 387.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 401454
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The subject is from Genesis 24.63-5. Isaac was meditating in the fields, 'at the eventide', when he saw the camels coming with his bride Rebecca. She dismounted, and veiled herself when Isaac's servant identified his master. Here Isaac stands, in the foreground, holding a staff in his left hand. Approaching through the trees at the left is Rebecca, accompanied by Isaac's elderly servant. She veils herself as he indicates his master. At the far left part of Rebecca's retinue is visible; Zuccarelli omits camels but includes a horse.
This is the largest of Zuccarelli's subject pictures in the royal collection, and one of the largest pictures he ever painted. It must presumably have been commissioned by Consul Joseph Smith and offers indirect evidence of his occasional interest in religious subject matter. It may have been integrated into the same scheme of decoration as the series of six large landscapes by Zuccarelli in the royal collection; certainly it originated around the same period as those pictures.
The painting appears in Pyne's illustrated Royal Residences of 1819, hanging in the Queen's Audience Chamber at Windsor Castle (RCIN 922100).
Signed on the rock at the right of Isaac: 'Francesco / Zuccarelli / Venezia 1743.Provenance
Acquired in 1762 by George III from Joseph Smith, British Consul in Venice (Italian List no 157); recorded in the 2nd Presence Chamber at Hampton Court in 1790
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
227.2 x 387.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
254.3 x 417.0 x 13.5 cm (frame, external)
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