‘Eliezer and Rebekah at the Well, ’ by William Holman Hunt

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Eliezer and Rebekah at the Well

William Holman Hunt

Dated 1863, but not published until 1880–81

Proof wood engraving cut by the Dalziel Brothers, printed on India paper

7 x 5¼ inches

Plate 12. Holman Hunt shows the scene in Genesis24: 43 –52. Eliezer identifies Rebekah as the God-chosen wife for Isaac because she offers him water as well as offering to give water to his camels; Eliezer then presents Rebekah with rich jewellery as a reward. [Commentary continues below.]

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Hunt compresses these essentials into a single frame, conflating time so that all of the events are depicted at once. Hunt’s design is typically Pre-Raphaelite in manner insofar as it presents the drama in a challenging and unconventional way. Eliezer’s pose, with one knee on the well as he leans across Rebekah is awkward and ambiguous; and Rebekah’s facial expression is similarly ambivalent but generally suggests a coy reluctance to go along with Eliezer’s plan. The sexual politics of the Old Testament in which women are entirely passive and objectified is replaced, we might say, by Holman Hunt’s reflection on women’s status and behaviour in his own time.

Bibliography

Dalziels’ Bible Gallery. London: Routledge, 1881 [1880].

Created 8 July 2026