This horizontal painting shows a tapestry being unfurled and held up by winged, baby-like putti against a structure with gray and gold columns, seen at the edges of the composition. Taking up most of the composition, the tapestry shows two ranks of men, women, and children gathered behind two central men, who meet at the center. All the people have light or tanned skin, and the bodies we can see are muscular. In the central pair of men, the one to our left, Abraham, faces our right in profile as he holds two loaves of bread. He has a brown beard and short, wavy hair, and dark brows over a…
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The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577 - 1640)

c. 1626

Medium
oil on panel
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
overall: 65.5 x 82.4 cm (25 13/16 x 32 7/16 in.) ; framed: 96.8 x 113.4 cm (38 1/8 x 44 5/8 in.)
Culture
Flemish
Museum
National Gallery of Art, CNE-B
Credit line
Gift of Syma Busiel
Rights
Public domain (NGA Open Access, CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the National Gallery of Art