Rebecca, Mephistopheles &Margaretta

Veiled Rebecca, is a sculpture created by an Italian neoclassical sculptor, Giovanni Maria Benzoni, depicting Rebecca. Benzoni is believed to have made four copies of this statue. The one at the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, India, has been described as a melody in marble.

In the Hebrew Bible, Rebecca is the bride of Isaac who is covered in a transparent veil during their wedding. This life-sized sculpture of Rebecca embodies innocence and purity as Giovanni Benzoniskillfully creates the appearance of a transparent veil, an outstanding artistic creation. It stands at a height of 167.0 cm with the statue and its round pedestal carved from a single block of marble without any joints. The pedestal has an inscription near right foot bearing the name of the sculptor, city and year.Other than this statute at the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad (India), there is also a copy at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia (USA). Another copy, completed in 1866, is in the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts (USA). The fourth is at the Detroit Institute of Art, in Michigan (USA). A significant difference between the Veiled Rebecca statue at the Salar Jung Museum and the other statues is that the statue at Salar Jung Museum lifts her veil with her right hand while the other copies do so with the left hand.The other impressive statue in SalarJung Musuemis the wood carved statue of Mephistopheles. Carved out of a single block of wood, the famous double statue in Salar Jung Museum showing two life-size figures – Mephistopheles in front and Margaretta at the back–attracts lots of visitors. Haughty Mephistopheles and gentle, gracious Margaretta, carved back to back, provide classic studies of two diametrically opposite characters from the famous German drama “Faust” by Goethe. In the drama, Margaretta and Mephistopheles respectively symbolise good and evil. With rare ingenuity, remarkable insight into the characters and superb craftsmanship, the sculptor has infused life in these creations—be that veiled Rebecca, Mephistopheles or Margaretta.