The Meeting of David and Abigail

c. 1630

Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Associated Names
Sir Peter Paul Rubens
Painter, Flemish, 1577 - 1640
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.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

This biblical narrative, recounted in 1 Samuel 25:2–42, describes an episode during David's exile in the wilderness in southern Judah. David, in need of provisions, sent some of his men to request aid from a wealthy sheep farmer named Nabal, whose herd David had let graze unmolested all winter. The sheep farmer curtly refused their request. Infuriated, David set out with 400 armed men to seek revenge. Nabal's wife, Abigail, having learned of David's impending attack, quickly packed generous provisions—including bread, wine, meat, and fruit—on the backs of donkeys, and set out to intercept David and his soldiers. She pleaded with David to forego his punitive action, reminding him that he was fighting the Lord's battles and should not allow evil into his life. Abigail returned home and her joyous news caused her husband's heart to die "within him, and he became as a stone." Upon hearing of Nabal's death, David assumed that God had acted to support his cause and rejoiced, after which he promptly sent servants to ask Abigail to marry him. She consented and became David's second wife.

The Old Testament is filled with poignant stories of the often harsh-and-cruel world of ancient Israel where, despite human frailties and personal betrayals, the followers of Moses formed a nation through spiritual faith, military valor, forgiveness of—and reconciliation with—bitter antagonists. Peter Paul Rubens, perhaps more than any other artist, internalized the force of these narratives and captured their powerful emotional impact in his expressive images. Yet the meeting of David and Abigail is a story of reconciliation, a quality Rubens suggests with the gentle forward movements of two distinctive figural groups who come together in a peaceful landscape. As Abigail kneels before David and offers him the gift of bread, the military leader, touched by her eloquence and humility, tenderly reaches out to help her rise. Through Abigail's gaze and gesture, Rubens conveys that Abigail's beauty and sincere supplication have successfully persuaded David to forego his intended attack against her husband. By bringing emotional nourishment and encouraging peace, Abigail represents a prefiguration of the Virgin as intercessor.

Rubens, who was profoundly Catholic, received many commissions for religious works, including altarpieces and designs for tapestries. He painted this luminous oil sketch, which may have served as a model for a tapestry, in the early 1630s, shortly after he had returned to Antwerp following delicate diplomatic assignments in Spain and England at the behest of King Philip IV of Spain, missions that he accomplished under the cover of his activities as an artist. The fluid brushwork and flickering highlights that both model and accentuate forms; the deeply resonant colors; and the broad, atmospheric handling of the landscape all reflect Rubens's appreciation of Titian's and Veronese's artistic achievements—two Venetian masters whose works he studied in Madrid and London in the late 1620s.

Italian artists' influence on Rubens had begun much earlier, in fact. Around 1600, Rubens, who had been trained in classical ideals and philosophy, travelled from Antwerp to Italy to experience firsthand its artistic traditions, not only those of antiquity and the Renaissance, but also those being created by contemporary artists such as Caravaggio. The inspiration he gained from this multifaceted exposure profoundly affected his own style of painting and became the foundation for his future work. Rubens returned to Antwerp in 1609 and became court painter to the regents for the Spanish king in the Southern Netherlands, Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella. With dramatic narratives like The Meeting of David and Abigail, executed in a bold and fluid style, Rubens had a strong and long-lasting impact on artists throughout Europe. One of the greatest masters of the 17th century, Rubens's artistic legacy cannot be overestimated.

On View
West Building, Main Floor, Gallery M45

Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Stanisław August Poniatowski, King of Poland [1732-1798], Łazienki Palace, Warsaw; by inheritance to his nephew Prince Józef Poniatowski [1763-1813]; by inheritance to his sister Maria Teresa Tyszkiewiczowa (née Poniatowska) [1760-1834]; sold 27 October 1821 to (Antonio Fusi, Milan and later St. Petersburg).[1] Andrzej Wierzbicki, Warsaw, 1935(?).[2] Princess Eleonore Radziwiłł Tyskiewicz [1918-1997]; consigned May 1957 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); 1/2 share purchased 9 January 1958 by (Pinakos, Inc., New York);[3] full ownership by c. 1963, Dr. and Mrs. Rudolf J. Heinemann, New York;[4] by inheritance 1975 to Lore [Mrs. Rudolf J.] Heinemann [d. 1996], New York; her estate; bequest 1997 to NGA.

[1] This information was kindly provided by Marek Płuciniczak, who discovered the painting in an 1783 inventory of the royal collection, under the number 1186, as “school of Rubens.” (see emails of 15 December 2025). It was displayed in the Łazienki Palace, the king’s private summer residence. According to Płuciniczak, the white number 259 in the bottom right corner of the painting was added in 1809, when the painting was kept in the Palace Pod Blachą (the number appears on an inventory made at the time,Spécification des Tableaux de Łazienki et Belvedere placés dans Appartements du Palais dit á la Blacha, 1809, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich (ZNiO), rps 5714/III, copy in CRF curatorial files). The painting’s last known appearance in the inventories was 1819. Maria Teresa sold the Łazienki palace and its furnishings to Tsar Alexander I and the rest of the art and collection to Fusi, a jewelry and painting dealer from Milan who apparently took the painting to St. Petersburg.

[2] Records received with the Heinemann bequest (in NGA curatorial files) mention a painting in a 1729 sale (unidentified seller[s], The Hague, 3 May 1729, no. 34) described as "Een nette Schets, zynde de Ontmoeting van David en Abigaël, zeer fray, door denzelven [Rubbens (sic)]" (translation: "A handsome sketch, being the Meeting of David and Abigail, very fine, by the same;" see Gerard Hoet, Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen, met derzelver pryzen, zedert een langen reeks van jaaren zoo in Holland als op andere plaatzen in het openbaar verkogt, benevens een verzameling van listen van verscheyden nog in wezen zynde cabinetten, 3 vols., The Hague, 1752-1770, reprint ed. Soest, 1976: 3[1770]:5). The existence of several copies of the Gallery's painting makes it impossible to confirm to which painting this entry refers.

The Wierzbicki provenance is based on a photograph of the Gallery's painting that Wilhelm Valentiner gave Michael Jaffé, which the latter noted in his 1972 Burlington article was taken in Warsaw and annotated on the back with a name that Jaffé spelled Wieszbicki. Monika Krol at the Royal Castle Museum, Warsaw, has kindly researched the name and suggested this owner was likely Andrzej Wierzbicki (1877-1961), who was born in Warsaw, studied at The Technology Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, then returned to his birthplace in 1913 to begin a career as an industrialist and politician. Nothing is known about his art collecting; if the painting remained in St. Petersburg through the early 20th century, it is possible he came across it there. However, the name Wierzbicki also belonged to a printing company in Warsaw, Graphic Works B.Wierzbicki and Co., founded by Bolesław Wierzbicki (1869-1923), a photographer who built a photochemical plant that focused on art printing, lithography, offset section, light-printing, photo-chemigraphy, zincography and bookbinding. It is perhaps possible the name on the back referred back to this company.

When Jaffé first saw the actual painting in about 1963, it had been "recently acquired by Dr. Rudolf Heinemann from another collection in the U.S.A." (Jaffé, Michael. "Rubens's 'David and Abigail.'" The Burlington Magazine 114, December 1972: 863.) Roger A. d'Hulst and M. Vandenven, Rubens: The Old Masters, Suffolk, 1989: no. 41a, give the date of Wierzbicki ownership as 1935, without documentation.

[3] Knoedler Stock Book 10, Page 201, Row 35, Stock No. A6717, digitized at Getty Provenance Index, copy in NGA curatorial file. Heinemann’s firm Pinakos was active during the 1940s and 1950s, frequently buying works in Europe on joint account with Knoedler. Eleonore Tyskiewicz was the daughter of Archduchess Renata of Austria and Prince Hieronim Mikołaj Radziwiłł. Her first husband was Count Benedykt Władysław Tyszkiewicz [1905-1956]. She married Roger de Froidcourt in 1959 and lived the remainder of her life in Paris.

[4] This date comes from Jaffé 1972 (see footnote 1).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2000

  • Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2000-2001, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1953

  • Jaffé, Michael. "Rubens' Sketching in Paint." Art News 52 (May 1953): 36, 64, repro.

1964

  • Die Sammlung Heule. Aus dem grossen Jahrhundert der niederländischen Malerei. Exh. cat. Wallraf-Richartz Museum. Cologne, 1964: unpaginated, under no. 31.

1972

  • Jaffé, Michael. "Rubens's 'David and Abigail.'" The Burlington Magazine 114 (December 1972: 863, repro.

1980

  • Held, Julius S. The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens. A Critical Catalogue. 2 vols. Princeton, 1980: 1:435-436, no. 315; 2:repro.

1989

  • d'Hulst, Roger A., and M. Vandenven. Rubens: The Old Testament (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Part 3). London, 1989: 134-136, no. 41a, repro.

1992

  • Mai, Ekkehard, and Hans Vlieghe, eds. Von Bruegel bis Rubens: Das goldene Jahrhundert der flämischen Malerei. Exh. cat. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Cologne, 1992: 594, under no. 184.1.

2005

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 206-210, color repro.

2020

  • Libby, Alexandra. “From Personal Treasures to Public Gifts: The Flemish Painting Collection at the National Gallery of Art.” In America and the Art of Flanders: Collecting Paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and their Circles, edited by Esmée Quodbach. The Frick Collection Studies in the History of Art Collecting in America 5. University Park, 2020: 142.

Inscriptions

lower right: 2[3 or 5?]9

Wikidata ID

Q9202858

You may be interested in

You may be interested in