Half hidden behind the door, she looks out and listens.
Bible in art · Genesis
Abraham Entertaining the Angels
Rembrandt · 1656
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Rembrandt etched this plate in 1656, during years when he was deep in debt and about to lose his house. It is only 16 cm high, and much of it is drawn with quick, open lines.
The guests sit on the ground at the door of a stone house. Rembrandt makes the central one an old man with a cup, flanked by two winged figures, while Abraham bends over a jug and Sarah peers out from behind the door.
From the text
- Abraham serving his three visitors as they eat (Genesis 18:8)
- Bread set before them (Genesis 18:5–6)
- Sarah behind him, “listening at the entrance to the tent” (Genesis 18:10)
The artist’s own
- The central guest as an old man and the other two with wings, as painters often showed this visit
- A stone house with a heavy door instead of a tent
- A boy with a bow behind the wall, often taken to be Ishmael
Details
Sarah at the door
The chief guest
An old man in a tall turban, holding a cup, sits in the middle.
Abraham
Bowed low, the host leans over a tall jug to serve.
Boy with a bow
Behind the wall a boy draws a bow — not in this chapter.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7160) · Etching and drypoint on laid paper · 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)