The prophet bends over the boy.
Bible in art · 2 Kings
Elisha Raising a Woman's Dead Child (Ms. 33, fol. 230v, from the Weltchronik)
Unknown painter, Regensburg · about 1400–1410
Getty Center, Los Angeles
From the Regensburg Weltchronik, painted about 1400–1410 in tempera colours with gold and silver. The chronicle tells the stories of Elijah and Elisha in a long row of such pictures.
In a room hung with red and green curtains, Elisha lies over a boy on a wide bed, face to face. The mother stands at the left with her hands joined.
From the text
- The boy lying dead on the bed (2 Kings 4:32)
- Elisha lies on the boy, mouth to mouth (2 Kings 4:34)
The artist’s own
- The mother present in the room, though the text says Elisha shut the door
- A bed and curtains of a German house
Details
Elisha
The boy
A curly-haired child lies on the pillow.
The mother
She stands with her hands joined.
The bed
A wide wooden bed with white covers.
Unknown illuminator, Regensburg; text by Rudolf von Ems (Austrian, about 1200–1254). The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Ms. 33 (88.MP.70), fol. 230v) · Tempera colors, gold, silver paint, and ink · Images provided here are believed to be in the public domain and are available under CC0 through Getty’s Open Content Program. (Getty record: "No Copyright", http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)