The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek
Artist
Peter Paul Rubens
(Flemish, 1577 - 1640)
Datec. 1625
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions175 1/4 x 224 3/4 in. (445.1 x 570.9 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineBequest of John Ringling, 1936
Object numberSN212
The largest and most ambitious artistically of the Ringling cartoons is The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek. The subject is an episode from Genesis 14:17-24, where the patriarch Abraham returns victorious from the battle of Dan. Melchizedek, priest-king of Salem, later called Jerusalem, offers Abraham bread and wine and blesses him. In return the patriarch offers the High Priest gifts from the spoils of battle. Rubens shows the offering of the bread and wine by the priest-king as a prefiguration of the Christian Eucharist and the institution of the papacy. Melchizedek, standing in higher position, hands down the offering to Abraham, as if handing down the Eucharist from the altar in the Catholic Mass. The figures attending the High Priest reflect the assistance of acolytes in the sacramental rite.
On View
On viewLocation
- Museum of Art, Gallery 02
Object/Object