NARRATOR:
The story of Rebecca at the well comes from the Old Testament. God had promised Abraham that he would have many descendants, but he had just one son, Isaac who, at 40, was still unmarried. Abraham sent his trusted servant Eliezer to Mesopotamia to find a suitable wife for his son. Exhausted from his long journey and worried that he wouldn’t know the right woman when he met her, Eliezer stopped at a well and prayed for guidance. Rebecca, who was drawing water at the well, offered Eliezer and his camels a drink. Immediately Eliezer realized that he had found the right bride.
This subject had been popular with artists for centuries, but Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot took a different approach. Instead of painting the moment when Rebecca meets Eliezer, with camels and other servants in the picture, Corot shows Rebecca alone. She dominates the landscape—if she were to stand up, she would be taller than the canvas. Rebecca rests her chin on her right hand, and her gaze doesn’t seem to focus on anything in particular. She seems contemplative, even melancholy. Perhaps she is overtaken by a vision of her future in a faraway land, separated from her family forever. Corot created many images of pensive figures in landscapes, both religious and secular.
Rebecca at the Well
1838-1839
Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875)
Not on View
In the book of Genesis, Abraham sends his servant Eliezer out to find a bride for his son Isaac. Eliezer comes upon Rebecca, a stranger, who draws water from a well for him and all his camels. Recognizing her kindness, he identifies her as a suitable bride for Isaac and gives her a ring as a token of gratitude. Nicolas Poussin, progenitor of the French classical tradition, famously painted the encounter of Rebecca and Eliezer in the seventeenth century (a picture today in the Louvre), and many artists followed suit. But in this succinct treatment of the story, Corot included only Rebecca, waiting with her jug beside the well, no ring in evidence. Seated on the ground, she looks up expectantly, as if just catching sight of Eliezer.
Details
- Artist Name: Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875)
- Title: Rebecca at the Well
- Date: 1838-1839
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 19-3/4 x 29-1/4 in. (50.2 x 74.3 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1972.21.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Chailloux, 1883.
Manzi, Paris.
[Alphonse Portier, Paris, 1890];
Paul Gallimard, Paris.
Jules Strauss (sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 3 May 1902, lot 12, ill., as Rébecca à la fontaine, for Ff 9,000, to);
Nicolas Auguste Hazard to;
Julie Pauline Hazard (d.1919; sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit,1-3 December 1919, lot 75, ill., as Rebecca, for Ff 35,000 to;);
[Bernheim-Jeune et Cie, Paris, stock no. 21.800, sold 7 March 1923 to;]
Burgeard.
David David-Weill, Paris; by 1920 or 36-1958.
[Galerie Schmit, Paris by 1971; sold, as Rebecca, 24 April 1972 to] ;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Manzi, Paris.
[Alphonse Portier, Paris, 1890];
Paul Gallimard, Paris.
Jules Strauss (sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 3 May 1902, lot 12, ill., as Rébecca à la fontaine, for Ff 9,000, to);
Nicolas Auguste Hazard to;
Julie Pauline Hazard (d.1919; sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit,1-3 December 1919, lot 75, ill., as Rebecca, for Ff 35,000 to;);
[Bernheim-Jeune et Cie, Paris, stock no. 21.800, sold 7 March 1923 to;]
Burgeard.
David David-Weill, Paris; by 1920 or 36-1958.
[Galerie Schmit, Paris by 1971; sold, as Rebecca, 24 April 1972 to] ;
The Norton Simon Foundation.
Exposition d'oeuvres de Camille J.-B. Corot (1796-1875): Figures et paysages d'Italie au profit de la Bibliothèque d'art & d'archéologie de l'Université de Paris
- Paris, Paul Rosenberg, 1928-06-06 to 1928-07-07
- Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne, Corot: Raconté par lui-même,fig. 281 p. 158
- Corot: L'Armoire Secrete, A Girl Reading in Context,2011, Abb.21 p.42
- Zimmerman, Antje, Studien zum Figurenbild bei Corot,n. 145, no. 104, pl. 104 pp. 91, 272
- Fosca, François, L'Amour de l'Art, p. 161
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best,2010, cat. 814 p. 341
- Exum, J. Cheryl, Bible Review, pp. 62-63
- Meier-Græfe, Julius, Corot, p. 58
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America,1979, p. 62
- Selz, Jean, La vie et l'oeuvre de Camille Corot, p. 126
- Faure, Élie, Corot,fig. 24
- Robaut, Alfred, Carton,fol. 6
- Robaut, Alfred, L'Oeuvre de Corot,no. 382
- Fosca, François, Corot: Sa vie et son oeuvre,fig. 30
- Robaut, Alfred, L'Oeuvre de Corot,
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum,1989, p. 115
- Goya, p. 59
- Bataille Georges, Documents: Doctrines, Archéologie, Beaux-Arts, Ethnographie, pp. 84-92
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1,2006,
- Hommage à Corot,under no. 100
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