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
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
Exposition Corot 1796-1875
- Paris, Galerie Schmit, 1971-05-12 to 1971-06-12
[on loan]
- Phoenix, Phoenix Art Museum, 1972-07-25 to 1973-02-09
Corot 1796-1875
- Paris, Grand Palais, 1996-02-28 to 1996-05-27
- National Gallery of Canada, 1996-06-21 to 1996-09-22
- New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996-10-22 to 1997-01-19
Exposition de Peinture Française
- Kunsthalle Basel, 1921-05-08 to 1921-06-30
Corot
- Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie, 1936 to
- Lyon, Musée de Lyon, 1936-05-24 to 1936-06-28
Images of the Landscape, Barbizon and Impressionist Paintings from the Permanent Collection
- Norton Simon Museum, 1987-07-02 to 1989-10-29
Reinstallation of South Wing
- Norton Simon Museum, 1993-10-07 to 1995-08-13
Three Centuries of French Art: Selections from The Norton Simon, Inc. Museum of Art and The Norton Simon Foundation_1
- California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1973-05-03 to 1976-06-15
- Robaut, Alfred, L'Oeuvre de Corot,
- Moreau-Nélaton, Étienne, Corot: Raconté par lui-même, fig. 281 p. 158
- Meier-Græfe, Julius, Corot, p. 58
- Faure, Élie, Corot, fig. 24
- Goya, p. 59
- Robaut, Alfred, L'Oeuvre de Corot, 1905, no. 382
- Bataille Georges, Documents: Doctrines, Archéologie, Beaux-Arts, Ethnographie, 1920, pp. 84-92
- Fosca, François, L'Amour de l'Art, 1938, p. 161
- Fosca, François, Corot: Sa vie et son oeuvre, 1958, fig. 30
- Hommage à Corot, 1975, under no. 100
- Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, 1979, p. 62
- Selz, Jean, La vie et l'oeuvre de Camille Corot, 1988, p. 126
- Masterpieces from the Norton Simon Museum, 1989, p. 115
- Brettell, Richard R. and Stephen F. Eisenman, Nineteenth-Century Art in the Norton Simon Museum, volume 1, 2006,
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 814 p. 341
- Corot: L'Armoire Secrete, A Girl Reading in Context, 2011, Abb.21 p.42
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