Bible in art · 1 Kings

The Prophet Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath

Cornelis van Poelenburch · c. 1630
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Cornelis van Poelenburch of Utrecht painted this small panel around 1630, after years in Rome. Like many of his works, it is mostly a sunlit Italian landscape with ancient ruins, and the story is told by small figures.

In the lower right corner an old man in a red cloak bends toward a young woman who kneels before him, holding out her hand. A boy behind her carries a bundle of sticks. All around, people go about their day among broken columns and arches.

From the text

Elijah goes to Zarephath and meets a widow “gathering sticks” at the city gate (1 Kings 17:10)
She has a son (1 Kings 17:12)
“Please bring me a little water in a cup” (1 Kings 17:10)

The artist’s own

Roman ruins — a column, arches overgrown with plants — instead of a Phoenician town gate
The widow kneeling; the son carrying the sticks
Travellers, a woman with a basket on her head, a rider

Details

Elijah

An old man in a red cloak bends and speaks.

The widow

A young woman in blue kneels and holds out her hand.

Sticks

A boy behind her carries a bundle of sticks.

Roman ruins

A broken column and lintel, like those the painter saw in Rome.

Old arches

A crumbling brick arch, overgrown with plants.

Passers-by

A woman walks by with a basket on her head.

Cornelis van Poelenburch, Dutch, c. 1594/1595–1667. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Gift of Joseph F. McCrindle in honor of John Thomas Rowe, Jr., 2004.101.2) · 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)

The verses

1 Kgs 17:8–16Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.” And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.” But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.” “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’” So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household. The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.

See it at the museum’s site