The painting is a generalised Arcadian scene. Its only connection with the biblical story of Isaac and Rebecca is Claude's inscription on the tree stump in the centre of the picture. Another version of this painting without the inscription is called 'The Mill' (now in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilij in Rome). Claude sold both this painting and the 'Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba', also in the Gallery, as a pair to the Duc de Bouillon (1605 - 1652), general of the Papal army. The pictures complement each other, showing joyful and fulfilling occasions taken from Old Testament stories. The Queen of Sheba is set down at dawn by the sea, and the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca takes place in the afternoon, inland. Claude's use of trees to frame the action is typical of his work, as is his giving the composition an overall balance. Both this painting and its pair were among the pictures owned by the Gallery when it first opened in 1824.
