The Meeting of David and Abigail

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

National Gallery of Art

A man and woman greet each other at the center of a group of about a dozen people set within a landscape in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale, peachy skin. In the middle of the crowd, a woman, Abigail, kneels to our left while a man to our right, David, reaches out to her. Abigail’s blond hair is tied back under a white veil that drapes over her shoulders, and she wears a slate-blue dress and a string of pearls around her neck. She holds her left hand, on our right, to her chest and her other hand gestures down to a basket of bread held by a man in the lower left corner of the painting. David stands and bends toward Abigail as he cups her bent elbow with his left hand. His other hand rests on a walking stick near her head, and his index finger is extended as if to brush her cheek. He has short, curly blond hair and beard, and he wears a thigh-length tunic under a breastplate. Crimson-red fabric drapes around his shoulders and over his armor, and a dagger or short sword hangs at his hip. Three women, three men, and a donkey gather to our left, behind Abigail. Two of the men hold large baskets of bread, and they all look toward Abigail and David. Six armored men, two younger people, and two horses make up the group to the right. Trees line a hill behind the people to our left and dark gray and amber-colored clouds fill the sky.