Ruth and Boaz

While the story of Ruth and Boaz was common in Renaissance art, Walter Crane’s version is highly unconventional. Instead of a traditional biblical scene, he places the pair in the foreground, sharing a meal, but their clothing is entirely out of place. Boaz is dressed as a medieval knight in full armor with a spear, and Ruth, who is a poor widow, wears a luxurious red robe, a blue headdress, and expensive jewelry. The setting is also as unexpected as the clothing that they’re wearing, featuring a landscape that looks nothing like the Holy Land, complete with men harvesting grain and saddled horses nearby. Before the Pre-Raphaelites, the "correct" way to paint Ruth and Boaz followed the Renaissance tradition: idealized figures in flowing, generic robes. The Pre-Raphaelites rejected this, preferring to paint with "truth to nature." The Pre-Raphaelites were obsessed with the Middle Ages. They felt the medieval period was more spiritually "pure" than the world they lived in. This explains why Boaz looks like a knight. By dressing Boaz in armor, Crane elevates the character from a simple landowner to a figure of medieval chivalry and protection. They often used "medieval-ish" settings for biblical stories to bridge the gap between the sacred past and their own artistic ideals.