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Guido Reni (Italian 1575-1642)
The Meeting of David and Abigail, c. 1615-1620
Oil on canvas, 61-1/2 x 64-1/2 inches
Gift of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

In the Biblical account of David's rise to kingship (I Samuel 25), Abigail rides to David's camp, attended by her servants. She has come to intercede for her husband, the Israelite chieftain, Nabal, who insulted David and his men. When Nabal dies soon thereafer, David marries Abigail.

Throughout his career in Bologna and Rome, Reni worked to restore to Baroque painting the ideal beauty and grace of Raphael's High Renaissance forms. Reni was celebrated for his union of masterly design and splendid coloring. Within a compressed space, David's proud, hip-shot stance confronts Abigail's softly curving form. The clarion yellow and red of David's garments give way to the subtle cobalt blue and moss green of Abigail's clothing. Reni's highly polished brushwork solidifies forms viewed from a distance and invites close scrutiny of such delicate details as the single pearl on the forehead of the handmaiden who returns our gaze.

Old Testament subjects held particular associations for seventeenth-century Christians. Abigail was viewed as a precursor of the Virgin Mary because of her humility and her willingness to intercede for others. David was honored as Jesus' ancestor. And for Counter-Reformation Italians, David the Warrior called to mind the new militant spirit of the Catholic Church.

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