"Ruth and Boaz," by Walter Crane (1845-1915)

Ruth and Boaz, by Walter Crane, RWS (1845-1915). Signed and dated 1863. Oil on canvas. 25.5 x 33.5cm. (10 by 13¼in.). Courtesy of Sotheby's. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

The inscription on the stretcher indicates that this was painted by the very young artist (still only eighteen) at the behest of Dr William Charles Hood, "'physician superintendent' director of the Bethlem Hospital for the Criminally Insane" since 1852, and that it was a gift for his steward at Bethlem, George Henry Haydon. Sotheby's helpful note continues, "These were two men of enlightened vision who sought to provide humane conditions in which the inmates of the hospital might live, and by attempting to understand the mental state of their patients." The Old Testament Book of Ruth was popular among Crane's contemporaries, and Ruth's story might well have seemed particularly appropriate to these men. Here was a case where God's purposes were being worked out through unexpected ways, in challenging situations: widowed, but remaining devoted to her mother-in-law Naomi in difficult circumstances, Ruth would remarry, and by her second husband Boaz would become the grandmother of Jesse and the great-grandmother of King David.

Ruth's story has a romantic flavour to it, and here Boaz looks less like a landowner in charge of his labourers than a knight in shining armour come to rescue the maiden in distress — a gleaner who, for her part, looks modestly downward. Boaz has given orders for Ruth and Naomi to be given provisions, and here they seem almost like a couple on a picnic, with bread and drink unwrapped from a white cloth in front of them. Boaz dwells on Ruth's face with a thoughtful expression: he may already see that their future lies together. The surrounding grass and stray heads of grain (which Boaz has asked his men to leave, on purpose, for this young gleaner) are shown in crisp Pre-Raphaelite detail, as are the shelves of rock to the right. There is a fairytale air about the scene, and a keen sense of its colourful decorative appeal, both qualities that look forward to Crane's own future in illustration and design. — Jacqueline Banerjee

Commentary by Dennis T. Lanigan

When this work was offered for sale at Sotheby's in 2008, Christopher Newall remarked that despite its being such as early work,

it is immediately recognisable as a product of his peculiar artistic genius with characteristics familiar from the main body of his work such as the high horizon and decorative placing of the main and peripheral figures within the overall format. It represents a great advance over his earliest known painting, The Lady of Shalott, which he had exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1862. [182]

In 1862 Crane had provided fourteen designs to accompany Caroline Hadley's Stories of Old, Bible Narratives Suited to the Capacity of Young Children, published by Smith and Elder. Newall thinks it was presumably this commission that led Crane to the present Old Testament subject.

The story of Ruth and Boaz is worth recounting in full. It comes from the Old Testament Book of Ruth. 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 while Chilion married Orpah. After about ten years Naomi's two sons also died and Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem because she was destitute, no longer having any means of support. Naomi tells her daughter-in-laws to return to their mothers and remarry and Orpath reluctantly leaves: Ruth famously 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 and kindness to her mother-in-law, and invited her to eat with him and his workers. He also instructed his workers to leave more grain behind in the fields for her to glean. Ruth told Naomi of Boaz's kindness, and she gleaned in his field through the remainder of the barley and wheat harvest. Naomi suggested that Ruth marry Boaz, who was a relative of the family of Naomi's late husband. Boaz was obliged by Leviate law as a kinsman redeemer to marry Mahlon's widow, despite her being a Moabite, in order to carry on Mahlon's family's inheritance. Ruth and Boaz therefore marry and have a son, Obed, who becomes the father of Jesse and the grandfather of King David.This is what results in Ruth's becoming an ancestress of Jesus.

The subject of Ruth and Boaz had been a popular one with artists since the time of the Renaissance. Crane's presentation of this subject, however, is most unusual. Ruth and Boaz are shown in the foreground, sitting on the ground eating their mid-day repast. Ruth appears to be looking down at her hands, perhaps looking at some grain she has gleaned and is holding in her left hand. Their attire is most inappropriate under the circumstances, even as compared to a Renaissance treatment of this subject. Boaz is clad in armour like a medieval knight, a spear by his side. Ruth is clad in an elegant red robe and a blue headdress, with an exquisite necklace around her neck, finery hardly expected in a poor widow. Male labourers using scythes are harvesting grain in the left midground while two saddled horses are seen to the right. The landscape background does not seem suitable for the Holy Land. Many artists within or associated with the Pre-Raphaelite circle painted this subject. These included G.F. Watts (an oil painting of c.1835-36, Ruth and Boaz); D.G. Rossetti (a watercolour of 1855, Ruth and Boaz); Simeon Solomon (a watercolour of 1862, Ruth and Boaz) and Thomas Matthews Rooke (an oil painting of 1876-77, Ruth and Boaz, also of 1876-77); and those listed under "Related Material" below. Others who took up the subject included William Blake Richmond, who painted an early watercolour of c.1860 of Ruth in the Field of Boaz, and Evelyn De Morgan, whose painting entitled Ruth and Naomi dates from 1887.

As explained above, Crane's painting originally belonged to a Dr. Hood, presumably Dr. William Charles Hood, the physician superintendent director of the Bethlem Hospital for the Criminally Insane. According to what was written on the stretcher on the back of the painting, Hood subsequently gave the painting to GHH [George Henry Haydon], his steward at Bethlem. It is uncertain what Crane's connection to Hood was.

Related Material

Bibliography

A Great British Collection. The pictures collected by Sir David and Lady Scott, sold to benefit the Finnis Scott Foundation. London: Sotheby's (19 November 2008): lot 100, 182-83. Web. 17 November 2025. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/2008/a-great-british-collection-the-pictures-collected-by-sir-david-and-lady-scott-sold-to-benefit-the-finnis-scott-foundation-l08137.html

Ruth and Boaz. Sotheby's. Web. 22 December 2024.

Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite and British Impressionist Art. London: Sotheby's (11 July 2019): lot 30. Web. 17 November 2025. https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2019/victorian-pre-raphaelite-and-british-impressionist-art/walter-crane-r-w-s-ruth-and-boaz.

Created 22 December 2024;

Second commentary added 17 November 2025