(no subject)

[congeries]

"The miniature shows the first meeting of Rebekah and Eliezer at the well in Genesis, 24. Eliezer has been sent by his master, Abraham, to the homeland of the patriarch, Mesopotamia, to seek a wife for his son, Isaac.

Rebekah is depicted twice, at two different moments. At the left she is seen with the empty pitcher, coming down the track from the town. The track curves round a decorative, half-naked, reclining female figure who is in fact a classical nymph of the spring transposed to a biblical setting. The second time we see Rebekah at the well, giving Eliezer water to drink.

One especially exotic feature is the herd of camels likewise wanting to drink (cf. Genesis 24, 19-22)."

я бы, конечно, сказал, что это элизер likewise wanting to drink, но да фиг. верблюдов, надо заметить, ровно десять штук, как и описано в первоисточнике; интересно, кстати, что имя раба в русском переводе как-то анонимизировалось.

цитата взята из (роскошной) книги Masterpieces of Illumination: The worlds’ most beautiful illuminated manuscripts from 400 to 1600, Eds. Ingo F. Walther & Norbert Wolf, Taschen 2005, pp. 500 (Sic!), a миниатюра - из Vienna Genesis.