Rebecca

This is an unusual painting for Giuseppe Molteni, who generally painted his contemporaries. The artist took the subject of the work, painted in 1835, from one of the historical novels most widely read in the period, Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe. Rebecca is one of the principal characters in the story, set in the twelfth century, and she was one of the most popular literary heroines of the Romantic age.
Molteni’s skill is evident in the details such as the hair falling over Rebecca’s shoulders, the light feather and the elaborate wimple.