Wife of the Levite from Ephraim
Jean-Jacques Henner French
Dedicatee Joseph Uzanne French
Not on view
Best known for his paintings of mysterious and sensuous nudes, Henner also treated religious themes with a particular focus on the victims in biblical narratives. This drawing relates to a major work that he first prepared for the Salon of 1895, "Wife of the Levite from Ephraim." Its subject draws upon a prose poem by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1762) based on the Old Testament (Judges 19–21), in which, to avoid his own rape by a mob, the Levite offered up his concubine instead. This early study focuses on the violated, prone body of the Levite’s sacrificed wife. The final version of the composition, "The Levite of Ephraim and His Dead Wife" (Art Gallery of Hamilton), won Henner a medal of honor when he exhibited at the Salon of 1898, and includes the remorseful figure of the Levite.
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