Eliezer and Rebekah at the Well, from "Dalziels' Bible Gallery"

Camden Press|Scribner and Welford|Dalziel Brothers|William Holman Hunt

1863–81 · Wood engraving on India paper, mounted on thin card · Drawings and Prints

As a founding Pre-Raphaelite, Hunt produced religious subjects with an intense realism that infused everyday objects with symbolic resonance. This, his only contribution to Dalziels’ Bible Gallery, depicts the meeting of Eliezar and Rebekah. Genesis records how Abraham sent his servant from to his home village in Mesopotamia to find a bride for Isaac. When Rebekah offers Eliezer water, the traveler recognizes her exceptional character and presents jewelry to confirm the seriousness of his errand. The strong outlines and sparse shading recall prints by Mortiz Retzsch, a German artist admired by the Pre-Raphaelites.

Artist

Camden Press|Scribner and Welford|Dalziel Brothers|William Holman Hunt

Date

1863–81

Medium

Wood engraving on India paper, mounted on thin card

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Anonymous Gift, 1926