4x5 transparency scanned on Hasselblad Flextight X1 by Ed Pollard-2017.

The Meeting of David and Abigail

Artist Guido Reni (Italian, 1575-1642)

CultureItalian

Dateca. 1615-20

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions61 1/2 × 64 1/2 in. (156.2 × 163.8 cm)
Overall, Frame: 78 1/4 × 81 1/2 × 5 1/4 in. (198.8 × 207 × 13.3 cm)

Credit LineGift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

Object number71.524

Collections

European Art before 1945

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 205

DescriptionThis is an oil on canvas painting. It depicts the moment when Abigail, the wife of the chieftain Nabal, arrives with her servants to intercede for her husband, who has foolishly insulted David and his men. Reni shows her riding sidesaddle into David's camp, her slumped shoulders in contrast to David's aggressive stance.

Label TextGuido Reni Italian, 1575–1642 The Meeting of David and Abigail, ca. 1615-20 Oil on canvas In this Old Testament scene, Abigail visits David’s camp to apologize for her husband who had insulted David and his soldiers. Pale and bowed with her eyes downcast, Abigail’s remorse is apparent. Even her donkey droops apologetically. David stands proud in his shiny armor and red flowing cape, but his face suggests tenderness—perhaps alluding to the end of the story when David and Abigail wed after her wicked husband dies. Seventeenth-century Catholics looked to such Old Testament stories as precursors of the New Testament and as models of moral behavior. An exemplar of humility, Abigail foreshadowed the Virgin Mary and her self-sacrifice. The mighty but forgiving warrior David embodied the militant spirit of the Catholic Church in the 1600s. Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 71.524 ProvenanceSig. Agostino Franzone, Genoa, Italy (for whom this painting was done); Collection Savelli, Rome, Italy, 1650; Philippe Duc d'Orleans, Galerie du Palais Royal, Paris, France, 1800; Edward Coxe, London, by 1807; sold by Peter Coxe, London, April 24, 1807; Lord Feversham, Duncombe Park, Helmsley, York; Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., 1971. Exhibition History"Yorkshire Fine Arts Exhibition," York, England, 1789. British Institution, 1855. "Art Treasures of Great Britain," Manchester, 1857. "Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Seattle Art Museum; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Minneapolis Art Institute; St. Louis City Art Museum; William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City; Detroit Institute of Arts; and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, March 2, 1956 - April 14, 1957. "Paintings from Private Collections," The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, summer, 1958. "Bolognese Baroque Painters," Finch College Museum of Art, New York City, 1962. "Art in Italy, 1600-1700," The Detroit Institute of Art, 1965. "Bi-Centenary Exhibition," Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., London, 1967. "Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences, Dec. 2, 1967 - May 15, 1968. "Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.," Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville, June 12 - Sept. 5, 1977. "Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk," for the benefit of The Chrysler Museum Art Reference Library, Wildenstein & Co., New York, N. Y., April 13 - May 13, 1978. "The Orléans Collection," New Orleans Museum of Art, October 25, 2018 - January 27 2019. Published ReferencesBertina S. Manning. _Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.: An Exhibition Organized by the Portland Art Museum, Oregon_. Portland: Portland Art Association. 1956. No. 30. Robert L. Manning. _Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Norfolk: Norfolk Museum of Arts and Science. 1967. No. 22. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Treasures from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk and Walter P. Chrysler, Jr._. Tennessee Fine Arts Center at Cheekwood, Nashville. 1977. No. 4. *See for further references. Eric M. Zafran and Mario Amaya. _Veronese to Franz Kline: Masterworks from the Chrysler Museum at Norfolk_. Norfolk, VA: The Chrysler Museum. 1978. No. 2. *See for further references. D. Stephen Pepper. _Guido Reni_. Oxford, 1984, p. 264, no. 131. _Guido Reni, 1575-1642_, exhib. cat., Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna et. al., 1988-1989, 232. Jefferson C. Harrison. _The Chrysler Museum Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, 1991, 24, #18. Jeff Harrison, _Collecting with Vision: Treasures From the Chrysler Museum of Art_ (London: D. Giles Ltd., 2007), 25, fig. 14. ISBN: 978-0-940744-72-1 Guio Reni. _The Orléans Collection_. New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, in association with D. Giles Limited, 2018: Cat. 30, p. 171.