Dalziels' Bible Gallery - Eliezer and Rebekah at the Well1881 Accession number: 1920P713.1.15 Wood engraving on India paper, in bound volume. Width: 136 mm Height: 179 mm InformationHunt's sole illustration for 'Dalziels' Bible Gallery' depicts Genesis 24:22. This section of the Bible tells the story of Eliezer, Abraham's servant, who has been sent to find a wife for Araham's son, Issac. He waits by a well in Nahor, Mesopotania, and his prayers are rewarded when Rebekah, Isaac's beautiful cousin, comes to draw water. She gives Eliezer and his camels a drink and in reurn he gives her 'a golden earring of half a shekel weight.' In the scene illustrated by Hunt, Eliezer is holding the earring against Rebekah's ear.According to Judith Bronkhurst, Hunt used a sketch of the hindquarters of a camel 'executed on his first trip to Palestine, as an 'aide-memoire,' while the features of both Eliezer and Rebekah are similar to studies for Joseph and the Virgin in 'The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple' ('William Holman Hunt: A Catalogue Raisonné,' p. 282). There is also a study of a woman in oriental dress (location unknow) which Bronkhurst believes was made specifically for the project (p. 119) Hunt's was not the only illustration in the Bible Gallery to depict Eliezer and Rebekah. Frederic Leighton (1830-1896) tackled the same subject but chose to illustrate the moment when Eliezer first sees Rebekah. This is an illustration for 'Dalziels' Bible Gallery, Illustrations from the Old Testament' published in 1881, plate 12. This project was originally intended to illustrate both the Old and New Testaments but was only finally published as 69 Old Testament engravings.
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