Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, 'Rebecca at the Well', 1708-13
About the work
Overview
This painting depicts a story taken from the Book of Genesis. Abraham had sent a servant to his homeland to find a bride for his son, Isaac. The servant came to a well, and waited for a woman kind enough to provide both him and his 10 camels with water: this woman would be the perfect bride for Isaac.
Here, an elegantly dressed Rebecca, Isaac’s future wife, looks calmly at the servant, her hand resting on a water pitcher – she seems only a little surprised at his request. He offers her several pieces of jewellery, which spill out of the box in front of him.
Pellegrini’s characteristic use of long, energetic brushstrokes and his confident application of paint can be appreciated in the bunched-up folds of Rebecca’s blue dress and cream bodice and in the servant’s red drapery, which add a vibrancy and rich texture to the scene. The woman and camels behind are painted in paler tones and thinner paint layers, giving the impression that they are further away.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Rebecca at the Well
- Artist
- Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini
- Artist dates
- 1675 - 1741
- Date made
- 1708-13
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 127.3 × 104.5 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by Claude Dickason Rotch, 1962
- Inventory number
- NG6332
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
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2020Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonThe National Museum of Western Art18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020The National Museum of Art3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021
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2021Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, LondonNational Gallery of Australia5 March 2021 - 14 June 2021
Bibliography
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1951F.J.B. Watson, Eighteenth Century Venice (exh. cat. Whitechapel Art Gallery, January 3 - March 14 1951; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 21 March - 18 April 1951), London 1951
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1957C. Donzelli, I pittori veneti del Settecento, Florence 1957
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1959M. Levey, Painting in XVIII Century Venice, London 1959
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1963National Gallery, Acquisitions 1953-62, National Gallery Catalogues, London 1963
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1965The National Gallery, The National Gallery: June 1962 - December 1964, London 1965
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1969E. Young, 'More about Pellegrini's Working Methods and Development', Apollo, 1969
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1971M. Levey, The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1971
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1983M. Helston, Spanish and Later Italian Paintings, London 1983
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1985J. Mills and R. White, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, IX, 1985, pp. 70-1
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1986Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
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1986National Gallery, 'Pictures Cleaned and Restored in the Conservation Department of the National Gallery, January 1985 - December 1985', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, X, 1986
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1990G. Briganti, La pittura in Italia. Il Settecento, Milan 1990
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1994A. Thomas, An Illustrated Dictionary of Narrative Painting, London 1994
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1995G. Knox, Antonio Pellegrini, 1675-1741, Oxford 1995
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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