Rachel and Jacob

Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s watercolour of Rachel and Leah was commissioned by John Ruskin and depicts Dante’s third dream (Purgatorio 27). There is an important absence in Dante’s vision: Jacob. This absence serves as an empowering reminder that these women had their own lives and were not mere players in Jacob’s story. Rossetti reflects this in the way he foregrounds the two female figures.

Jacob and Rachel’s meeting, as recounted in the biblical text, follows a literary pattern. It sits alongside other Pentateuchal betrothals, all of which adhere to certain narrative motifs. There is a common feminist critique of these betrothal scenes: they all centre on the men. The women are enveloped and become footnotes in the male protagonists’ stories. This could absolutely be true of Rachel, just as it is commonly noted to be the case for Rebekah (Genesis 24) and Zipporah (Exodus 2).

However, one woman is so overlooked that often she does not feature even in these critiques. That woman is Leah.

Leah has commonly been interpreted as the less attractive, and thus unwanted, sister on account of her rak (weak or delicate or soft) eyes in contrast to the Genesis text’s description of Rachel as yapheh ‘beautiful’ (29:17). But in this watercolour of Dante’s dream, all standard interpretative tropes seem to have been shirked. Leah, as well as Rachel, is paid a great deal of attention.

There are similarities in the women’s appearance, enhancing their sisterhood, though also subtle differences. While Rachel’s purple attire appears to be formal and regal, with cloak, gilded girdle, and veil, Leah’s green dress, with its short sleeves, is more simple, and her flowing hair is uncovered and adorned with a rose. 

Rossetti visually affords both sisters the role of ‘anti-sirens’, reflecting their appearance in Purgatorio 27; rather than leading one astray, they are symbols of the correct path (Barolini 2014). While Rachel can be seen gazing into the water, transforming Genesis 29’s well into something more like the ‘mirror’ of which Dante speaks, Leah appears to be tending to honeysuckle. In so doing, they are personifying contemplation and action. Together, they are the fulfilment of a holistic and virtuous life.

According to Rossetti’s painting of Dante’s vision, it could be argued that the fact that they are married to the same man is a mere footnote in their story.

References

Barolini, Teodolinda. 2014. ‘Purgatorio 27: Remember, Remember!’, Commento Baroliniano, Digital Dante (New York: Columbia University Libraries), available at https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/purgatorio/purgatorio-27/ [accessed 4 November 2024]

n.d. ‘Dante’s Vision of Rachel and Leah’, Rossetti Archive, available at  https://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s74.raw.html [accessed 4 November 2024]

Erwin Speckter’s depiction of Jacob and Rachel sets them in an expansive and highly populated landscape. In this way, he suggests a crucial aspect of their meeting and subsequent betrothal: that its ramifications will go far and wide.

After unknowingly finding himself on the outskirts of the land belonging to his uncle Laban (Genesis 29:1, 4–5), Jacob encounters the shepherds of three flocks. Perhaps with this in mind, Speckter depicts a group of men gathered at the edge of the trees at the right of his composition, three of whom hold crooks. According to Genesis, they have been awaiting the arrival of a fourth flock so that the stone that covers the well can be removed and all the sheep drink. This fourth, all-important flock is tended by Rachel, who, at centre, also holds a crook, probably to show that she too is a shepherd (v.9).

The shepherds were unable to carry out their duties until Rachel arrived. But their eager expectation of her arrival (v.6) reflects a wider atmosphere of expectancy at this point in the biblical story. Rachel’s entrance is keenly anticipated by various people for various reasons. Jacob cannot continue his life without her. And we too, as followers of the larger biblical narrative of Israel’s patriarchs, are aware that this unfolding story must be on hold until she appears.

Much is contingent upon Rachel’s arrival.

Even in this very first meeting, Jacob and Rachel are forming a partnership that supplies nourishment to those around them. It is noteworthy that Genesis makes clear that the presence of both Jacob and Rachel was necessary for the water to be distributed. Rachel’s presence was required according to a societal agreement, and it seems as though Jacob’s anomalous strength (apparently a result of his dramatic reaction to Rachel’s entrance) was required to remove the stone obstructing the well (vv.9–10).

Though centred on the embracing couple, the painting depicts life-giving effects all around them. At right, as the group of shepherds rests, seven sheep drink in unison. At left, a flock feeds and frolics, while a second group of men dances and plays instruments.

This implies that sustenance for others is already flowing from Jacob and Rachel’s union, foreshadowing the impact of their betrothal, which will move far beyond the confines of these two seemingly besotted protagonists.

The power of Simeon Solomon’s pen and ink drawing lies in its simplicity. Solomon homes in on the profound intimacy between Jacob and Rachel, isolating them from what has been, what is, and what will be.

Aside, that is, from the single camel in the background. Is it reminiscent of the meeting of Isaac and Rebekah, Isaac’s beloved parents (Genesis 24)? Or simply the means by which Jacob made his way to Haran? It certainly anchors this couple in a specific type of landscape.

In the biblical account, Jacob’s introduction to Rachel is densely packed with overt emotion; the mere sight of Rachel is quite literally adrenaline-inducing (if, as it seems, it powers Jacob’s single-handed removal of the great stone over the well in v.10), after which kissing her makes him weep aloud (v.11).

The Hebrew words for ‘watered’ (wayashq) and ‘kissed’ (wayishaq) are strikingly similar and used in notably close proximity. The teasing use of these words implies, rather erotically, that Rachel needs Jacob in a way resembling the sheep’s need for hydration in the midday heat.

The author has crafted a deeply intense romance.

Solomon’s rendering of the scene suggests the couple’s intimacy in the tight clasp of Jacob’s hands around Rachel’s, and in his stepping very close to her. It is also hinted at in in the way that their faces turn towards each other, and Rachel’s eyes are fixed on her beloved. And finally, it seems communicated by what is not in the frame—these two figures have eyes only for each other. Whilst the text may tell us that this was no private interaction, in Solomon’s drawing they seem to exist in a vacuum.