Boris Israilovich Anisfeld

Brooklyn, The Brooklyn Museum, The Boris Anisfeld Exhibition, 1918, no. 64, traveling exhibition

Christian Brinton, The Boris Anisfeld Exhibition, 1918: Brooklyn, no. 64, illustrated

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is in beautiful state. It is unlined and still on its original stretcher. The paint layer appears to be clean and requires no attention. The frame is not of a high level however, and could be attended to. The picture itself seems to be in lovely state and there appear to be no restorations or damages.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The present composition illustrates a scene from the religious story of Rebecca, the second matriarch of the  Jewish people. Rebecca became the wife of Isaac, the son of Abraham and Sarah. She was known for her stunning beauty, kindness, resourcefulness and strong will.

In the book of Genesis, Abraham sent his servant to Mesopotamia with ten camels in search of a suitable wife for Isaac. The servant stopped outside a city and waited for women to come draw water from a well, and he prayed that the woman to offer water not only to him but also to his camels would become Isaac's future wife. To his surprise, the next women he saw—young Rebecca—did so without hesitation, and the servant offered her gifts and asked that she come with him and be wed. She agreed and left her home and family behind, journeying over five hundred miles from upper Mesopotamia to Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev to meet her future husband.

And they called Rebecca and said to her "Will you go with this man?" She said "I will". So they sent away their sister Rebecca and her nurse along with Abraham's servant and his men, and they blessed Rebecca...And Rebecca rose up and her maidens, and they mounted the camels and went with the man; and the servant having taken up Rebecca, departed (Genesis 24: 58-59).

Rebecca later bore two sons, Jacob and Esau, and she changed the future of her people when she deceived Isaac on his deathbed, causing him to bless Jacob instead of Esau. A number of Anisfeld's most important compositions were religious in theme; this particular painting is an epic, vibrant representation of Rebecca's journey to Isaac. It comes from a biblical series begun by the artist in 1916 and completed in Petrograd in 1917.