Bathsheba Holding King David's Letter

Bathsheba Holding King David's Letter
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Bathsheba Holding King David's Letter
"Bathsheba Holding King David's Letter" is one of Rembrandt's phenomenal portrait paintings and a masterpiece of 17th-century Dutch Realism. The painting is a piece of Biblical art that demonstrates a scene from the 2nd Samuel (11: 2-27) where King David observed the beautiful Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah, bathing. Being obsessed, King David summoned her by a letter to the palace, which eventually led to her becoming pregnant. Due to its greatness and phenomenal painting, several individuals interpreted Rembrandt's art. This paper analyzes similarities and differences between Svetlana Alpers and Margaret Caroll when interpreting the painting.
Before executing this work, a popular way of pictorializing this Bible story was to display Bathsheba taking baths outdoors. During his time with Uylenburgh, Rembrandt made history paintings, particularly those associated with biblical scenes. He performed these works with an ambitious series of prints in mind that were combined to constitute a passion series. He represented several biblical stories, grounding them on a stiff reading of Old and New Testament writings, which led to the spread of rumors of his religious denomination and beliefs. Also, Rembrandt's model for his religious art was Hendrikje Stoffels, aged 28, after the death of his wife Saskia. Rembrandt economic status was better as compared to other professions. As a result, he became a shopaholic, purchasing art and valuable objects that he utilized as a teaching tool for his people and desired to include in his paintings.
The integral push of Alpers' essay reels in how Rembrandt describes the woma...