Two Matriarchs, One Well: The Misinterpretation of Rebekah and Rachel 17th Century Neapolitan Painting. The Cases of Luca Giordano and Andrea Vaccaro
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24197/ggtwz491Keywords:
iconography, Old Testament, 17th century painting, neapolitan painting, Luca Giordano, Andrea VaccaroAbstract
The biblical text has been translated into images through specific visual codes throughout the history of art. This article examines this phenomenon in the case of two women from the Old Testament and their traditional representation: Rebekah and Rachel and their encounters at the well. The codification of their biblical story through shared iconographic motifs has led to confusion in their identification. The latter is demonstrated by a reinterpretation of two seventeenth-century Neapolitan paintings by Luca Giordano and Andrea Vaccaro, respectively.
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