Ruth and Boas

Nicolaes Berchem (1620 - 1683). Ruth and Boas, c. 1650. A landscape bathed in sunlight is the decor of this colourful biblical scene. The subject is an episode from the book of Ruth, which recounts how the young widow Ruth left her country and travelled with her mother-in-law to Bethlehem. When they arrived, the harvest had just begun. As Ruth was gleaning the ears of corn from the field of a rich man named Boas, the latter was extremely hospitable. Purchased in 1809, as part of the Van Heteren Gevers collection (The Hague).