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Your absentee bid for Lot 020 - Antique Wall-Height Unframed Oil Painting on Canvas, Ruth's Declaration of Devotion to Naomi on the Road from Moab to Bethlehem, Old Testament Biblical Subject, After Philip Hermogenes Calderon, 29-1/2" W x 66" H was successfully submitted—thank you for bidding with us!
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Lot 020 - Antique Wall-Height Unframed Oil Painting on Canvas, Ruth's Declaration of Devotion to Naomi on the Road from Moab to Bethlehem, Old Testament Biblical Subject, After Philip Hermogenes Calderon, 29-1/2" W x 66" H
Lot 020 - Antique Wall-Height Unframed Oil Painting on Canvas, Ruth's Declaration of Devotion to Naomi on the Road from Moab to Bethlehem, Old Testament Biblical Subject, After Philip Hermogenes Calderon, 29-1/2" W x 66" H
Antique wall-height unframed and unstretched oil painting on canvas depicting the biblical scene of Ruth and Naomi, after the composition by Philip Hermogenes Calderon (1833–1898), first exhibited in 1886. The scene depicts the moment on the road from Moab when Ruth declares her devotion to her mother-in-law Naomi, refusing to leave her side after the deaths of both their husbands. The painting is executed at a monumental scale, occupying the full height of a standard wall.
In the Book of Ruth, Naomi urges her two Moabite daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpah, to return to their own families after the death of Naomi's sons. Orpah reluctantly departs, but Ruth clings to Naomi and speaks the well-known declaration: "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God." Ruth accompanies Naomi back to Bethlehem, where she eventually marries Boaz and becomes the great-grandmother of King David.
The canvas is unsigned and shows scattered paint cracking and losses throughout, with more pronounced deterioration, staining, and paint loss along the bottom edge. The canvas is unlined and has irregular, untrimmed edges with areas of fraying and soiling.
