BOAZ, RUTH AND NAOMI
    Jacob Jordaens    Flemish    1593-1678
SN 987 & 988        Oil on Canvas         1641/42

by Robert Anderson. 2000

ARTIST
    Jacob Jordaens was a Flemish painter who, after the death of Rubens, became the leading figure painter in Flanders. His style was heavily indebted to Rubens, but was much more earthbound, using thick impasto, strong contrasts of light and shade, and coloring that was often lurid. His physical types, too, were coarser than Ruben's and his name is particularly associated with large canvases of hearty rollickung peasants.
    Early in his career he employed rather glaring and variegated local coloring, but gradually his colors became more deeply saturated and were deployed more harmoniously over the picture plane, while at the same time his brushstrokes became looser and more rythmical.
    Relatively few portraits were painted by Jordaens and his sitters were usually members of his own family or social circle - portraits of royalty, nobility or clergy do not appear.
    Jordaens prolific output, however, included many other subjects, including religious and historical works. He also etched and made designs for tapestries. Jordaens continued to use the watercolor technique he had learned early in his career, for the design of cartoons for woven tapestries, an activity for which he received major commissions throughout his career.

He rarely left Antwerp, but commissions came from all over Europe, the most important being The Triumph of Frederick Hendrik (1651-52) an enormous composition painted for the Huis ten Bosch, the royal villa near The Hague.
    During his early career he often collaborated with Rubens on the design of official festivals and processions as well as on privately commissioned works. Rubens remained an important source of inspiration to Jordaens throughout his life and as his wealth increased he followed Ruben's example and built a fine home suitable for a wide range of activities.    In his old age Jordaens became a member of the Dutch Reformed Church. He probably joined it in 1656 but the Catholic authorities had reason to look askance at him as early as 1649.   

SUBJECT
    The subject is taken from the Old Testament Book of Ruth. Boaz was a Bethlemite of great wealth. Ruth was a Moabitess, a gentile, who had married the son of Naomi who was in turn a relative of Boaz. After Ruth's husband died there was famine in their land and Naomi returned to Bethlehem with Ruth to seek help from Boaz, her kinsman. At Naomi's suggestion Ruth goes into the fields of Boaz and makes sure that she is noticed by him. He in turn is kind to her, allowing her to collect grain from his fields.
    Naomi next instructs Ruth to sleep with Boaz, which she does so successfully that shortly thereafter Boaz redeems the rights to Naomi's inheritance which includes the right to Ruth as his wife. Boaz and Ruth subsequently married and had a son, Obed, who was David's grandfather and an ancestor of Jesus.

PAINTING
    Although Jordaens is known for his crowded tableaux, Boaz and Ruth and Naomi demonstrate what Jordaens could achieve when he devoted his full attention to a few monumental figures. These are exceptionally strong, well preserved pictures and are by the artist's own hand. They can be dated to 1641/42 on the basis of style and were probably done to decorate the artist's house, which was built at that time. The paintings would have been hung high up between two windows or flanking a central doorway. The religious subject would not have been out of keeping in this context, for among other decorations, which are known to have been extensive, was a series of prophets.
    Boaz is shown at the moment when he aquires the land of Naomi's husband from her next-of-kin and, with it, Ruth as his wife. It was the custom of the day for a man to pull off his shoe and give it to the other man as a sign whenever property was redeemed or exchanged. In the other panel, Ruth shows Naomi the barley that Boaz has given her after she slept with him at Naomi's behest. Boaz is shown, despite his age, as powerful and determined. Ruth is appropriately voluptuous, yet virtuous, while Naomi is portrayed as the wily schemer she was.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
    The story of Boaz and Ruth is traditionally interpreted as a sign that God protects the faithful and as a beneficent act in reward of virtue. There is another level of meaning as well : Ruth and Boaz were direct ancestors of Christ, for their son Obed, was the grandfather of David, from whom Jesus was descended. The story of Ruth parallels that of the Virgin, her lineal descendent, and Saint Anne, both of whom likewise married much older men.
    The fact that Ruth was a gentile has always been of great interest to Christians in as much as Christianity is primarily a religion of gentiles.

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