She kneels in a blue-grey dress, a white veil over her hair.
Bible in art · 1 Samuel
The Meeting of David and Abigail
Rubens · c. 1630
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Peter Paul Rubens painted this small panel in Antwerp around 1630, quickly and freely, with the brush marks left visible. It is only 66 centimetres wide; it later belonged to Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of Poland.
Abigail kneels in a blue-grey dress and white veil, and David, in armour and a red cloak, steps forward and takes her hand. Behind her come women, servants with baskets of loaves and a donkey; behind him, soldiers in plumed helmets and a white horse.
From the text
- Abigail getting down and bowing before David (1 Samuel 25:23)
- Loaves of bread brought on donkeys (1 Samuel 25:18)
- David and his armed men coming toward her (1 Samuel 25:20)
The artist’s own
- David taking her hand to raise her
- Soldiers in Roman-style armour and plumed helmets
- Fair-haired women in silk dresses behind Abigail
- A leafy, Flemish-looking landscape
Details
Abigail
David
In armour and a red cloak, he reaches for her hand.
Bread
A servant lifts a basket of loaves; more round loaves lie beside it.
Carried in
A man brings a basket of bread on his head.
The donkey
A donkey’s head among the servants.
David’s men
Soldiers in plumed helmets, with spears.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish, 1577–1640. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Bequest of Lore Heinemann in memory of her husband, Dr. Rudolf J. Heinemann, 1997.57.8) · Oil on panel · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)