Rebekka at the well

Rebekka at the Well of 1908, now in the Jewish Museum Berlin, is one of Ury's several works on Old Testament subjects that reflect his deep engagement with Jewish religious and cultural heritage. The story of Rebecca at the well — from Genesis 24, where Abraham's servant meets Rebecca and she offers water to him and his camels, leading to her marriage with Isaac — was a subject painted throughout Western art history. For Ury, a Jewish painter working in an increasingly antisemitic German society, Old Testament subjects carried personal as well as spiritual significance. The Jewish Museum Berlin's holding of this work is entirely appropriate: Ury bequeathed a significant portion of his estate to Jewish causes, and his Hebrew subjects represent an assertion of cultural identity within a modernist pictorial language. The well setting provides him with the water and light effects he excelled at depicting.

Ury brings his characteristic sensitivity to light to a biblical narrative setting. The outdoor well scene likely involves bright Mediterranean-style sunlight with dramatic cast shadows. The figure of Rebecca is depicted with the impressionistic dissolution of form in strong outdoor light.