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Rebecca and Eleazar
Sébastien Bourdon (French, 1616–1671)
1664–69
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
144.1 x 199 cm (56 3/4 x 78 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Juliana Cheney Edwards Collection
Accession Number68.24
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Both this Old Testament subject and its companion piece from the New Testament, Christ and the Woman of Samaria (MFA object no. 68.23), deal with the theme of personal revelation. Here, the weary Eleazar, servant of the patriarch Abraham, is offered water by Rebecca. This act of kindness is a sign to him that she is the young woman he has been sent to find as a bride for Abraham's son, Isaac.
ProvenanceAbout 1664-1669, painted for the abbé de Saint-Georges (probably Claude de Saint Georges, b. 1634 - d. 1714), Paris. Louis-François, prince de Conti (b. 1717 - d. 1776), Paris; May 16, 1777, posthumous Conti sale, Muzier and Rémy, Paris, lot 2087. Private collection, Paris. By 1962, Wildenstein and Co., Paris, London, and New York [see note 1]; 1968, sold by Wildenstein to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 7, 1968)
NOTES:
[1] Included in the exhibition "Religious Themes in Painting from the 14th Century Onwards," Wildenstein & Co., London, March 16-May 5, 1962, no. 39.
NOTES:
[1] Included in the exhibition "Religious Themes in Painting from the 14th Century Onwards," Wildenstein & Co., London, March 16-May 5, 1962, no. 39.