Rebecca and Brian de Bois-Guilbert
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| Rebecca and Brian de Bois-Guilbert | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Léon Cogniet |
| Year | 1828 |
| Type | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 88.5 cm × 116 cm (34.8 in × 46 in) |
| Location | Wallace Collection, London |
Rebecca and Brian de Bois-Guilbert is an oil on canvas by the French artist Léon Cogniet, from 1828. It is held at the Wallace Collection, in London.[1]
The work depicts a scene from the novel Ivanhoe (1819), one of Walter Scott's Waverley Novels, that takes place in the late 12th-century, during the conflict between the Normans and the Saxons in England.[2] Scott's stories were very popular in France during the Restoration period and a number of romantic painters drew on them for inspiration for their works. It also reflected the growing influence of Orientalism in art.[3] It portrays the abduction of the Jewish Rebecca by a member of the Knights Templar, Brian de Bois-Guilbert, who was infatuated with her. He rides by her side, in a black horse, while she, beautifully dressed in pink, is carried away in a white horse, by his enslaved black Moor slave. In the background, the fictional Torquilstone Castle is seen in flames.[4]
