Ruth: An Eastern Gleaner, by William J. Webb(e). Oil on canvas. 30 x 24 inches (76.2 x 61 cm). Private collection, image courtesy of Christie's. Not to be downloaded; right click disabled.
While Webb(e) was influenced by the Eastern subjects of William Holman Hunt most of his works are basically Orientalist genre scenes and he, in general, was less concerned with employing the overt religious symbolism found in the works of Hunt. Some of Webb(e)'s pictures, however, were exhibited along with Biblical quotations in exhibition catalogues. The title of this work obviously suggests a religious connotation. The subject of Ruth and Naomi or Ruth and Boas was a popular one with artists from the time of the Renaissance. Webb's painting shows the beautiful Ruth standing alone and gleaning, a sheaf of wheat in her right hand and a basket containing more sheaves of wheat on her head. She is portrayed, however, surprisingly in an irregular rocky landscape that looks unsuitable for growing grain. A further group of three women can be seen in the distance to the right. The time appears to be approaching sunset, suggesting that she has been labouring for some time in the fields.
The story comes from the Book of Ruth in the Old Testament. During a period of famine an Israelite family from Bethlehem, Elimelech, his wife Naomi, and their two sons Mahlon and Chilion emigrated to the nearby country of Moab. Elimelech died and the sons married two Moabite women. Mahlon married Ruth, but about ten years later Mahon also died and Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. Naomi tells Ruth to return to her mother and remarry but Ruth responds, "Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me" (Ruth 1, 16-17). Ruth and Naomi therefore returned to Bethlehem at the beginning of the harvest in order to seek a better life. In order to support her mother-in-law and herself, Ruth went to the fields to glean and the field she went to belonged to a wealthy landowner named Boaz. He was kind to her because he had heard of her loyalty to her mother-in-law. Ruth told Naomi of Boaz's kindness, and she gleaned in his field throughout the remainder of the barley and wheat harvest. Boaz was a wealthy kinsman of Ruth's former husband and eventually Ruth and Boaz marry and have a son Obed who is the grandfather of the future King David.
Contemporary British artists within the Pre-Raphaelite circle who painted this subject included William Dyce, G. F. Watts, D. G. Rossetti, Simeon Solomon, T. M. Rooke, William Blake Richmond, and Evelyn De Morgan.
Bibliography
Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art. London: Christie's (14 December 2016): lot 27, 32.
Created 2 June 2025