Willem Van Nieulandt II (1584 - 1635), Naomi And Ruth

Willem van Nieulandt II
Flemish painter
Antwerp 1584  – 1635 Amsterdam
A Roman landscape with Naomi and Ruth, Orpah stepping away
Oil on panel : 36,8 X47,4 cm
Unsigned
Frame : 45,5 X 56,1 cm

During the first years of the 17th century Willem van Nieulandt the Younger spent four years in Rome, studying under his uncle Willem the Elder and under the important landscape painter Paul Bril. This stay was decisive for his later development: their influence and the town views with Classical ruins that he saw here would inspire him during his complete career.

Our painting represents a scene from Jewish tradition and of the Old Testament: a foreign woman, Ruth, follows her mother-in-law, Naomi to Israel, and remains loyal to her new, Jewish religion. She is a convert who attaches herself to the values of Judaism and she is an ancestor of King David (his great-grandmother) and therefore also of Jesus Christ.

The monumental lion fountain at left is inspired by one of a pair of ancient Egyptian statues brought to Rome during Antiquity. In the 15^th century they stood in front of the Pantheon, in the 16^th century they were incorporated in a monumental fountain, the Fontana dell’Acqua Felice, where our painter saw them at the start of the 17^th century during his stay in Rome.

All my paintings stand fully documented on my website :
https://www.jeanmoust.com/categories/biblical-mythological-and-allegorical-scenes/nieulandt-willem-ii-van-2023/ruth-and-naomi-3938057